A collaborative modelling of ship and port interface operations under uncertainty

Abstract

Fault tree analysis is a known methodology used for analysing engineering systems. The approach is usually conducted using known failure data. Given that most maritime operations are conducted in a challenging and uncertain environment, their failure data are usually unavailable requiring a flexible and yet robust algorithm for the analysis of the systems. This research therefore seeks to analyse hazards of ships during ship and port interface operations as a result of manoeuvring by incorporating fuzzy fault tree analysis method to optimise the performance effectiveness of the system. Fuzzy set theory provides the needed flexibility to represent vague information from the analysis process. The methodology is structured in such a manner that diverse sets of data can be integrated and synthesised for analysing the system. It is envisaged that the proposed method could avail safety specialist with a simple and a step-by-step framework for evaluating maritime hazards in seaport operations in a concise way.