Global Marine Casualties Hit Record High in 2025, Safety Board Reports

Maritime shipping remains one of the world’s most dangerous industries, despite technological progress. Global fleet losses have shown significant improvement, dropping from over 200 vessels yearly in the 1990s to just 27 by the end of 2024. Yet concerning patterns persist. The total number of reported shipping casualties or incidents worldwide saw a 10% increase during 2024, reaching 3,310 incidents compared to 2,963 the previous year.

Maritime casualties encompass both vessel losses and incidents. The year 2024 saw 13 ships lost, representing an 18.8% decrease from 2023. The number of damaged ships rose by 12.1% to 785 during the same period. These casualties stretch beyond vessel damage to human costs. The largest longitudinal study from 2015 to 2024 revealed 609 lives lost in 416 marine casualties. Crew members bore the heaviest toll, accounting for 84.7% of injuries in 2024. This piece explores recent maritime safety developments and their industry’s future implications.

Marine Casualties Reach Record High in 2025

The maritime industry faces unprecedented challenges as global marine casualties hit alarming levels in 2025. DNV’s latest report shows maritime safety incidents surged by 42% between 2018 and 2024, while the global fleet grew by just 10%. This is a big deal as it means that safety incidents are growing much faster than the fleet size, and this troubling trend continued into 2025.

Lloyd’s List Intelligence data shows more than 2,200 recorded casualty incidents yearly since 2021. Maritime casualties include various incident types, and machinery damage/failure caused 60% of all cases in 2024—a dramatic jump from 38% a decade ago.

Ship age plays a crucial role in these incidents. Vessels older than 25 years caused 41% of all reported cases in 2024, up from 32% in 2014. Fire and explosion incidents also jumped by 42% in the last four years.

Maritime casualties go beyond vessel damage and take a human toll. The industry lost 609 lives in 416 marine casualties between 2015 and 2024. Passenger and ferry segments proved most dangerous with the highest number of casualty incidents during this period.

Geopolitical tensions add to these concerns, with war loss casualties increasing dramatically from 12 in 2023 to 51 in 2024—representing direct casualties of war at sea.

What Types of Ships Were Most Affected?

Maritime incidents in 2024 hit cargo and passenger vessels the hardest, creating a pattern that stretched into 2025. The breakdown of vessel casualties showed cargo ships accounted for 1,265 out of 2,864 ships involved in marine incidents. The numbers revealed 625 cases involving passenger vessels, while fishing vessels logged 457 incidents and service ships recorded 389 cases.

Dissecting casualty patterns across vessel categories reveals unique risk profiles. Passenger ships managed to keep the highest average occurrence indicator at 247, with cargo vessels trailing at 147. These ratios between incidents and fleet sizes paint a clearer picture of each vessel type’s vulnerability.

Distress calls predominantly came from cargo, tanker, and dry cargo vessels, which made up 56.9% of total incidents. Canadian-flag commercial vessels faced three major hazards: collisions at 45%, groundings at 21%, and fires at 17%. Fishing vessels made up 29% of all shipping accidents, with groundings being their biggest threat at 44%.

The casualty data also highlighted specific incident causes. Machinery damage and failures led the list with 1,860 cases worldwide. Fire incidents jumped 20% compared to last year, hitting 250 cases – a ten-year high.

War-related casualties saw a dramatic spike as geopolitical tensions caused war loss incidents to jump from 12 in 2023 to 51 in 2024. Ship age played a significant role in these incidents, with 16-year-old vessels generating the most distress signals, closely followed by newly built ships.

How Did Human Error Contribute to the Spike?

Human error remains the main cause of maritime casualties in 2025. Data from the European Maritime Safety Agency shows that human actions caused 64.5% of accident events from 2015 to 2024. Both actions and behavior-related factors contributed to 78.8% of all marine casualties that were broken down.

The industry’s analysis backs this trend. Human error causes 75% to 96% of all marine accidents. Human error was also behind 75% of marine liability insurance claims between 2011 and 2016, leading to losses over $1.60 billion.

Fatigue proves especially destructive and impairs crew members’ decision-making abilities and situational awareness. Maritime workers’ inadequate training continues to cause accidents. There’s another reason for concern – overreliance on technology. Serious losses have occurred due to excessive dependence on electronic chart displays.

A company’s culture is a vital factor too. Human behavior accounted for 50.5% of contributing factors, while crew performance suffers from reduced job security confidence. Ship-related procedures became the focus of 43.6% of safety recommendations between 2015-2024. This shows that casualties must include human factors to improve maritime safety effectively.

Conclusion

Maritime industry challenges look alarming as we look back at 2025’s trends. Global marine casualties have hit new highs despite better technology. Machinery failures cause most incidents, while ships over 25 years old add to this growing problem.

Safety issues still come down to the human element. Statistics show that human error causes 64.5% to 78.8% of all maritime accidents. This is a big deal as it means that we just need better training and changes in how organizations work. Crew fatigue, poor preparation, and too much trust in technology play major roles in these numbers.

Cargo and passenger ships face the highest risks among vessel types. War-related losses have grown four times larger due to global tensions. These issues create new dangers for shipping operations worldwide.

The industry must tackle these issues with a complete plan. Ship owners should make updating old fleets their top priority. Better crew training that focuses on human behavior could reduce accidents by a lot. Regular maintenance checks would help prevent the machinery breakdowns we see in most accident reports.

The industry has improved over the last several years, but recent increases in accidents need quick action. These casualties mean more than just damaged ships – they put real lives at risk in one of the world’s most dangerous fields. How we handle these findings will show if 2025 becomes a crucial change point or just another step toward more maritime incidents.