While ferry travel is relatively safe in wealthy countries and during international voyages, domestic ferry accidents are much more common in less developed countries, causing many deaths and injuries.
Archipelagic countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines, river deltaic countries like Bangladesh, countries with extensive riverine systems such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria and Senegal, and countries with a combination of great lakes, rivers and archipelago such as Tanzania, have experienced many ferry accidents and fatalities over the past two decades, and are considered high-risk countries in the ferry transport sector.
The international community has continuously sought to enhance domestic ferry safety. As part of this campaign, and with a view to identifying focus areas, a scoping study has been conducted on the seven high-risk countries mentioned above, analysing, amongst other things, past domestic ferry accidents, maritime profile, regulatory and governance climate, political landscape, and amenability to change.
The study proposes a conceptual framework to improve country-specific decision-making capacity. Safety interventions were proposed based on their likelihood of success and the relative significance of their positive safety impact.
This report builds on previous work from Interferry and Lloyd’s Register Foundation, learning from improved safety standards in the Filipino ferry industry and sharing this knowledge with other developing countries.
Download the report from the World Maritime University website. To find out about more how we’re making the world a safer place, subscribe to the Lloyd’s Register Foundation newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
