When a maritime accident or casualty occurs in shipping, it must be reported to the Swedish Transport Agency. In recent years, the number of reported events has increased and in 2022 the record was broken with a total of 548, compared with 374 reports the previous year. Patrik Jönsson is accident coordinator at the Swedish Transport Agency who compiles accident statistics there. He views more incidents being reported as positive.

“We know that it is not a case of more accidents, but more people choosing to report accidents,” he says. “We base this on the fact that it is less serious accidents and incidents that are increasing, the type of events that we suspect are way under-reported. We have always been aware of the serious accidents and they are not increasing. It is important that accidents occurring on board are known by the Transport Agency,” says Patrik Jönsson.

“As an authority, we use the reports to gain an overview of the situation in shipping and to adapt our supervision to those segments and areas that are most affected.”

At the Transport Agency, the improvement in reporting accidents is judged to be largely due to cooperation between national shipping companies and pilots from the Swedish Maritime Administration. Reporting by pilots is seen as particularly significant because it often involves ships sailing under a foreign flag, which may not always know how, when or what to report in Sweden. But though reports are increasing, Patrik Jönsson suspects that many incidents take place on ships and remain unknown to the authorities.

“Above all, this applies to the barge and contracting industry and fishing. We believe there is a significant under-reporting of personal injuries in those areas,” he says.