Marine transportation occurrences in 2024

The TSB gathers and uses transportation occurrence data during the course of its investigations to analyze safety deficiencies and identify risks in the Canadian marine transportation system.

It should be noted that certain characteristics of the data constrain statistical analysis and identification of emerging trends. These include the small totals of accidents and incidents, the large variability in the data from year to year, and changes to regulations and definitions. The reader is cautioned to keep these limitations in mind when viewing this summary to avoid drawing conclusions that cannot be supported by statistical analysis.

The 2024 data were collected according to the reporting requirements described in the Transportation Safety Board Regulations in force during that calendar year.

The statistics presented here reflect the TSB Marine Safety Information System (MARSIS) database at 24 February 2025. Since the occurrence data are constantly being updated in the live database, the statistics may change slightly over time.

Also, as many occurrences are not formally investigated, information recorded on some occurrences may not have been verified.

Accidents

Overview of accidents and casualties

In 2024, 213 marine accidentsSee the Definitions section. were reported to the TSB, below the 2023 total of 243 and below the 10-year (2014 to 2023) average of 274 (Figure 1). In 2024 the proportion of shipping accidents (as opposed to accidents aboard ship) was 85% of all marine accidents, slightly higher than the previous 10-year average proportion (83%).

There were 182 shipping accidents in 2024, below the 2023 total of 205 and 20% down from the 2014 to 2023 average of 227. Fishing vessels were involved in 29% of all shipping accidents, which is the highest proportion among vessel types, followed by solid cargo vessels, involved in 18% of shipping accidents (data not shown).

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In 2024, 31 accidents aboard ship were reported to the TSB, compared to 38 in 2023 and also down from the 2014 to 2023 average of 47. Fishing vessels were involved in 48% of all accidents aboard ship, which is the highest proportion among vessel types, followed by solid cargo vessels, involved in 23% of accidents aboard ship (data not shown).

Casualties (tables 1, 6 and 7)

In 2024, 12 marine fatalities were reported, down from the 18 fatalities reported in 2023, and below the annual average of 14.5 in the 2014 to 2023 time period. Of the 12 fatalities in 2024, 8 were the result of 4 shipping accidents, while the remaining 4 fatalities resulted from 4 accidents aboard ship.

Of note, 6 shipping accident fatalities in 2024 involved commercial fishing vessels, and all 4 of the fatalities that ensued from accidents aboard ship occurred aboard commercial fishing vessels. These data indicate that more still needs to be done to improve safety in the commercial fishing industry.

Serious injuries in 2024 totalled 38, slightly down from 39 in 2023 and below the annual average of 47 from 2014 to 2023. Thirty of the 38 serious injuries (79%) resulted from accidents aboard ship, and 8 resulted from shipping accidents (Figure 2).

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Shipping accidents

Type of accident (Table 1)

As illustrated in Figure 3, the most frequent types of shipping accidents in 2024 were collision (34% of all accident types reported), grounding (26%) and fire/explosion (20%). The total number of collisions (61) was 22% below the 10-year (2014-2023) average of 78, the number of groundings (47) was 15% below the 10-year average of 55, while the number of fire/explosion accidents (37) was 3% above the 10-year average of 36.

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Type of vessel (Table 1)

Fifty-five fishing vessels were involved in shipping accidents in 2024, slightly down from 57 in 2023 and down from the 2014-2023 average of 76 (Figure 4). Of the total number of vessels involved in shipping accidents, 26% were fishing vessels.

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Geographical region (Table 2)

In 2024, 37% of shipping accidents occurred in the Pacific region, 31% in the Atlantic region, and 28% in the Central region. Less than 4% of shipping accidents were in foreign waters.See the Definitions section. In the Pacific region in 2024, the number of shipping accidents (67) dropped 31% below the 2014-2023 average of 98. In the Central region shipping accidents (51) were 23% below the 2014-2023 average of 66, while In the Atlantic region the number of shipping accidents (57) was close to the 2014-2023 average of 56 (Figure 5).

In 2024, fishing vessels were more often involved in shipping accidents than other vessel types in the Atlantic region (31 fishing vessels, down from the 2014-2023 average of 38), and in the Pacific region (22 fishing vessels, below the 2014-2023 average of 31. As for the Central region, most of the vessels involved in shipping accidents were of cargo/tanker vessel type (22 cargo/tankers, below the 2014-2023 average of 37 (Table 2).

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Vessel flag (tables 1, 3, and 4)

In 2024, 78% of the 207 vessels involved in shipping accidents reported to the TSB were Canadian-flag vessels. Of these 161 Canadian-flag vessels, 41% were commercial non-fishing vessels and 34% were fishing vessels; the remaining 25% were service vessels (38), survey/research vessels (2) or sailing vessels (1).

Accident rates

In 2024, Canadian-flag commercial non-fishing vessels were most often involved in collisions (45%), groundings (21%), or fire/explosions (17%) (Table 3). According to information provided by Transport CanadaTC combines terrestrial automatic identification system (AIS) data from the Canadian Coast Guard and satellite AIS data from the Government of Canada Satellite AIS provider to yield a comprehensive and detailed distance-based metric of Canadian-flag commercial marine activity in Canadian waters. (Source 1. An introduction to automatic identification system (AIS) data & how it’s used at TC (OPP). Transport Canada. December,  2019. Source 2. Transport Canada, Transportation and Economic Analysis – Policy Group, email communication 20 March 2025.) and TSB estimatesThe provided TC data does not capture activity of all commercial vessels below 300 GT, which are not required to be AIS-equipped. Therefore, the TSB estimated vessel-km for all commercial vessels under 300 GT by applying the results of a 2015-2017 aerial survey of AIS-equipped (or not) vessels (Serra-Sogas et al, 2021) to the AIS-based activity data provided by TC. (Source: Serra-Sogas, N., O’Hara, P., Pearce, K, Smallshaw, L., and Canessa, R. (2021). Using aerial surveys to fill gaps in AIS vessel traffic data to inform threat assessments, vessel management and planning. Marine Policy 133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2021.104765), marine activity for Canadian commercial non-fishing vessels over 15 gross tons (GT) (excluding passenger vessels and cruise ships) was 13.971 million commercial vessel-km in 2024, unchanged from the 2014-2023 average. This yields a rate of 2.5 shipping accidents per million commercial vessel-km in 2024, lower than the prior 10-year average of 3.7.

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For Canadian-flag fishing vessels, the most frequently reported shipping accident types in 2024 were grounding (44%), fire/explosion (17%) and collision (15%) (Table 3). According to information provided by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, there were 10 668 active fishing vessels in Canada in 2024Source: Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), email communications 20 March 2025, 1 April 2025. Active fishing vessels are defined as commercial fishing vessels landing at least one catch in that calendar year.. The shipping accident rate for Canadian-flag fishing vessels (Figure 7) was 5.0 shipping accidents per 1000 active fishing vessels in 2024, above the rate of 4.7 in 2023, but below the 2014-2023 average of 5.4.

Kendall’s tau-b (τ_b) correlation and Sen’s estimate of slope were used to quantify the trend in the fishing vessel accident rate shown in Figure 7. Kendall’s τ_b correlation coefficient is a nonparametric measure of the strength and direction of association that exists between two variables. Kendall’s τ_b was calculated on the 11-year series of accident rate values by year from 2014 to 2024. There was a moderately strong, negative correlation that indicates a downward trend in the Canadian fishing vessel shipping accident rate over the period (τ_b = -0.564, p = 0.016). Sen’s estimate of slope, the amount of downward rate change per year, was −0.188 accidents per thousand Canadian-flag fishing vessels.

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In 2024, 27 foreign-flag vessels were involved in shipping accidents in Canadian waters, 26 of which were commercial non-fishing vessels (Table 4). According to information provided by Transport Canada,Source: Transport Canada, Transportation and Economic Analysis – Policy Group, email communication 20 March 2025. marine activity for foreign commercial non-fishing vessels over 15 GT was 25.519 million commercial vessel-km in 2024, above the 2014-2023 average of 19.131 million commercial vessel-km. This yields an accident rate of 0.9 shipping accidents involving commercial foreign-flag vessels over 15 GT per million commercial vessel-km, below the 2014-2023 average of 1.8.

Vessels lost (tables 1 and 5)

In 2024, 18 vessels were reported lost,The final outcome of each occurrence is not always reported to the TSB; these totals reflect reported data. more than in 2023 (13) and above the 2014-2023 average of 16. Eleven of the 18 vessels lost in 2024 were fishing vessels. Seven of the 18 vessels lost were less than 15 GT and for 3 vessels the tonnage was not known. In the past 10 years (2015 to 2024), fishing vessels under 60 GT have accounted for 51% of Canadian vessels lost (tables 1 and 5, some data not shown).

Incidents

Overview of incidents

In 2024, 738 marine incidents were reported to the TSB, down from the total of 784 in 2023 and below the annual 10-year (2014-2023) average of 845. Incidents in the Atlantic region (345) represented 47% of all marine incidents, followed by 29% (211) in the Central region, and 23% (171) in the Pacific region. The remaining 1% (11) of reported incidents occurred in foreign waters (Table 2).

The majority (83%) of reportable incidents involved the total failure of any machinery or technical system (Figure 8). The largest proportion of these incidents (313 of 612, or 51%) occurred in the Atlantic region, while 43 of 64 incidents involving risk of collision (67%) occurred in the Central region (data not shown). The types of vessel most often involved in total failure of any machinery or technical systems incidents in 2024 were fishing vessels (59%) and solid cargo vessels (19%) (data not shown).

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* Due to rounding of percentages in category labels, additions across incident types should be calculated from Table 1 data rather than by adding percentages shown in Figure 8.

Data tables

Definitions

The following definitions apply to marine transportation occurrences that are required to be reported pursuant to the Canadian Transportation Accident Investigation and Safety Board Act and the Transportation Safety Board Regulations.

Marine occurrence

• any accident or incident associated with the operation of a ship
• any situation or condition that the Board has reasonable grounds to believe could, if left unattended, induce an accident or incident described above.

Marine accident

An accident resulting directly from the operation of a ship other than a pleasure craft, where

Accident aboard ship

• a person is killed or sustains a serious injury as a result of
  • boarding, being on board or falling overboard from the ship, or
  • coming into direct contact with any part of the ship or its contents;

Shipping accident

• the ship
  • sinks, founders or capsizes,
  • is involved in a collision (includes strikings and contacts),
  • sustains a fire or an explosion,
  • goes aground, or
  • sustains damage that affects its seaworthiness or renders it unfit for its purpose,
  • is missing or abandoned.

Marine incident

• a person falls overboard from the ship, or
• the ship
  • makes unforeseen contact with the bottom without going aground,
  • fouls a utility cable or pipe, or an underwater pipeline,
  • is involved in a risk of a collision,
  • sustains a total failure of
    • the navigation equipment if the failure poses a threat to the safety of any person, property or the environment,
    • the main or auxiliary machinery, or
    • the propulsion, steering, or deck machinery if the failure poses a threat to the safety of any person, property or the environment;
• all or part of the ship’s cargo shifts or falls overboard, or
  • is anchored, grounded or beached to avoid an occurrence,
• a crew member whose duties are directly related to the safe operation of the ship is unable to perform their duties as a result of a physical incapacitation which poses a threat to the safety of persons, property or the environment;
• there is an accidental release on board or from the ship consisting of a quantity of dangerous goods or an emission of radiation that is greater than the quantity or emission levels specified in Part 8 of the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Regulations.

Serious injury

(a)  a fracture of any bone, except simple fractures of fingers, toes or the nose;

(b)  lacerations that cause severe hemorrhage or nerve, muscle or tendon damage;

(c)   an injury to an internal organ;

(d)  second or third degree burns, or any burns affecting more than 5% of the body surface;

(e)  a verified exposure to infectious substances or injurious radiation; or

(f)   an injury that is likely to require hospitalization.

Vessels covered

This report covers commercial vessels that include all vessels either registered or licensed to operate commercially. Pleasure craft occurrences are not normally included unless they also involved a commercial vessel.

Vessel categories

• Commercial Non-fishing Vessels: include cargo vessels, ferries, passenger vessels, tugs and barges.
• Commercial Fishing Vessels: include vessels involved in commercial fishing.
• Other Vessels: include research vessels, oil exploration, exploitation and support vessels, government vessels and pleasure craft.

Miscellaneous

Gross tonnage (GT)

A measure of vessel capacity, including the spaces within the hull, and enclosed spaces above deck available for cargo, stores, fuel, passengers and crew, with certain exclusions.

Movement

A vessel’s travel segment between ports or a length of 1 km or more within a port harbor, with at least one port being a domestic port.

TSB regional offices’ areas of responsibility

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Pacific Region’s area of responsibility consists of the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories south of the 70th parallel, as well as the waters adjacent to these provinces and territories out to the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) 200 NM boundary (or out to another State’s maritime boundary).

Central Region’s area of responsibility consists of the provinces of Ontario and Quebec (including the Magdalen Islands), the territory of Nunavut, and the Northwest Territories north of the 70th parallel, as well as James Bay, Hudson Bay, the St. Lawrence Seaway, and the Great Lakes waterways up to the Canada–U.S. border.

Atlantic Region’s area of responsibility consists of the provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as the waters adjacent to these provinces out to the EEZ 200 NM boundary (or out to another State’s maritime boundary).