Research on the Characteristics and Causes of Collision Accidents Between Merchant Ships and Fishing Vessels in China’s Coastal Waters

Collision accidents involving merchant ships and fishing vessels are a crucial issue for maritime navigation safety, having received widespread attention due to their high frequency and serious effects. A statistical analysis of 142 collision accidents between merchant ships and fishing vessels from 2014 to 2025 was conducted to determine the regularity characteristics and causes of collisions in China’s coastal waters. This study investigated the characteristics of collision accidents, such as occurrence time, accident waters, ship length, and ship type, and used the grey relational analysis (GRA) method to analyze the accident causes. The causes of collision accidents involving merchant ships and fishing vessels were quite complicated, impacted not just by human factors but also by ship factors, environmental factors, and management factors. This study explored the characteristics of the collision accidents, including occurrence time, accident waters, ship length, and ship type, and analyzed the causal factors of the accidents using the grey relational analysis method. The causes of collision accidents between merchant ships and fishing vessels were relatively complex, being influenced not only by human factors but also by ship factors, environmental factors, and management factors. By ranking and comparing the relational degree values of the causal factors, three key factors were identified: X1 (failure to maintain a proper lookout) with the highest correlation degree of 0.93, X3 (improper emergency response) with the second highest correlation degree of 0.91, and X9 (complex navigation environment) with the third highest correlation degree of 0.84. Finally, based on the preceding research, suitable recommendations were made to provide a clear priority direction for accident prevention and control, as well as effective motivation for preventing or minimizing collision accidents involving merchant ships and fishing vessels.