A Model for Calculating a Maritime Risk Criterion Number

Abstract

Early in 1976 the Navigation Research Centre of the Netherlands Maritime Institute started research to develop a ‘maritime risk criterion number’ for a specific sea area. The need was urgent as the Navigation Research Centre (NRC) became more involved in marine traffic studies in the North Sea and the approaches to Dutch harbours. The main purpose is to calculate the criteria for traffic patterns in a given area as an element in the information needed to find the best regulatory solution for the overall traffic situation. The criterion should give due recognition to such elements as the traffic density, the course and speed distribution of the traffic, and the danger classes of the ships participating in the traffic.