The analysis of ship accident occurred in Turkish search and rescue area by using decision tree

Turkish search and rescue area is of strategic importance in terms of international transportation and shipping, particularly Istanbul and canakkale regions are the output port of the Black Sea countries to the trans-boundary waters. An accident that may occur in these regions may cause heavy traffic to slow down or even stop the transportation. Slowing down or stopping the transportation and shipping will cause high economical damage to the countries of the region. At the same time marine accidents taking place in these regions will most likely result in human casualties and environmental disasters. Hence, it is necessary to evaluate the cause of the accidents occurring in this region to comment on the common precautions. In this study, 1247 marine accidents occurring in Turkish search and rescue area were investigated in 2001-2009. These were sorted with frequency analysis and analyzed by using the Decision Tree method. Many of the ship accidents (60%) result from human error. Besides, most human error-induced accidents in Turkish search and rescue areas occurred in Istanbul region (50%). Finally, the risk of a collision-contact accident in cargo vessels in Istanbul region is stated to be 10% by reason of human error.