Application of fuzzy cognitive maps to investigate the contributors of maritime collision accidents

Maritime transport has been striving to reduce ship accidents since its origins, which results in loss of lives or properties and damage for the environment. Hence, a continuous effort to enhance safety is a crucial requirement for the maritime sector, for which several approaches have been tried for the past years. This paper presents the first results of a study which aim is to assess the factors affecting collision accidents in order to enhance safety and resilience. This aim is achieved by using Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCMs) method, which consider and evaluates importance of these factor by calculating and assigning individual weights to them. Moreover, FCM appears to be a suitable approach since it can take into account both, fuzzy data and past accidents experiences. Hence, in this paper with the help of FCM, past accidents from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) database regarding collision are analysed to identify the contributors of collision accidents and their FCM weightings.