COLREGs Misunderstood or Ignored?

Abstract

As various scholarly articles and accident investigation reports indicate, the risk of collisions at sea is still high. The objective of this research is to identify if this is due to misunderstanding of the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea 1972, as amended (COLREGs), by watchkeeping officers working onboard cargo ships. A total of 76 collisions while navigating officers (OOW) were at the con that occurred during a period of 10 years were analysed.80% of the collisions could have been avoided since one vessel was aware of the presence of the other. The highest number of collisions had taken place in cases of crossing situations. Furthermore, it is also important to note that 52% of the OOWs involved in collisions were sufficiently experienced.No evidence was found to conclude that these accidents occurred due to misinterpretation or misunderstanding of the COLREG’s by the OOW’s onboard the cargo ships, but as incorrect or insufficient action had been taken by experienced OOW’s, this could have been due to complacency and/or overconfidence on their part.Among the measures to be taken to minimize collisions at sea, overconfidence and complacency are two factors that should also require attention by all interested parties.