International Journal
on Marine Navigation
and Safety of Sea Transportation
Volume 5
Number 2
June 2011
189
1 BACKGROUND
The active involvement of the coastal states in
safeguarding and promoting the safety of human
life, environment and property related to maritime
navigation in the waters in which they exercise
jurisdiction, sovereignty or sovereign rights, is
shown in a number of international legal texts.
The International Convention on Maritime Search
and Rescue, Hamburg, 1979 (Convention SAR'79)
and the United Nations Convention for the Law of
the Sea, Montego Bay, Jamaica, 1982 are included
among those juridical tools.
These two fundamental legal instruments lay
down both regulatory and technical aspects of the
development of reactive response to maritime
emergencies.
Both texts establish the principle of division of
the entire maritime waters, defining areas of
responsibility for maritime search and rescue
associated with every coastal nation. These nations
should assign specific resources - human, technical
and legal - to meet the requirements that arise as a
result of the liabilities undertaken by the parties.
Although both conventions regulate the
commitments related to maritime search and rescue
matters undertaken by the parties, the International
Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue,
Hamburg 1979, known as SAR'79 Convention,
which Spain joined in 1993, lays down the basic
guidelines to be followed by the Authorities of the
coastal states in the process of design and
implementation of maritime search and rescue
services.
Over the years, this agreement has been amended
a number of times. Among the amendments which
are due to be highlighted, we find those adopted in
1998. According to these, it is essential to provide
the centers responsible for carrying out maritime
search and rescue operation with detailed
operational plans appropriate and adapted to the
particularities of each specific search and rescue
region. These plans will allow carry out
these actions effectively.
These plans should also establish not only the
procedures to be followed during mobilization of
rescue units, but also provide the methodology to be
used in developing search and rescue operations.
The plans require the establishment of coordination
instruments between adjacent rescue centers and
Maritime Safety in the Strait of Gibraltar.
Taxonomy and Evolution of Emergencies Rate
in 2000-2004 Period
J. Walliser, F. Piniella, J.C. Rasero & N. Endrina
Departamento de Ciencias y Técnicas de la Navegación. Universidad de Cádiz. CASEM –
Facultad de Ciencias Náuticas, Puerto Real, Cádiz, Spain
ABSTRACT: Both SAR’79 and UNCLOS’82 Conventions are specific tools that establish the juridical and
technical foundations for the development of reactive aspects related to maritime safety response. These con-
ventions set up the search and rescue regions in which coastal states should assume the responsibility to dedi-
cate resources, to cover the needs of the SAR responsibilities. 2006 amendments to IAMSAR manual volume
I, in force since 2007, June the 1st, established the identification and assessment of risks related to maritime
safety as one of the practical principles in maritime risk management. The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow nav-
igational channel connecting the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea between Spain and Morocco. The
Strait supports a huge volume of maritime traffic increasing steadily every year. This paper presents the pre-
liminary results obtained in relation with the taxonomy and temporal distribution of maritime emergencies re-
ported and documented by the Spanish Maritime Administration throughout 2000-2004 period.
190
procedures and criteria to be used not only during
the gathering and evaluation of relevant information
related to the emergency but also alerting ships and
aircraft transiting the area of the incident and
requesting their cooperation in operations.
A rigorous approach to the formulation and
development of plans and protocols to cope with
maritime emergency situations requires the
application of specific methodological tools that
would make possible the identification,
classification and categorization of those risks that
must be controlled or the mitigation of their
consequences.
On the other hand, at the request of the interested
countries, and with the aim of facilitating the
adoption of the necessary measures for the
adaptation of the standard and promoting
harmonization in a global environment, the
International Maritime Organization (IMO) and
International Civil Aviation Organization
(ICAO) published in 1999, the International
Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue
Manual (IAMSAR), a dynamic document that over
the years has undergone several modifications which
enabled it to improve and adapt to changing reality.
Among these changes we can find the 2006
amendments, in force since June 1, 2007, which set
out the practical principles to be followed in the
implementation of aeronautical and maritime search
and rescue services and addresses the need
to identify and asset the risks related to maritime
safety. In such a way that these amendments state
that the effectiveness of the response to maritime
emergencies depends, among others, upon the
knowledge of type and frequency of those marine
incidents that may result in a risk for human life at
sea, safety of navigation and protection of marine
and coastal environment.
This paper presents the preliminary results of the
study carried out over the emergency rates in the
Strait of Gibraltar, approaching the taxonomy and
distribution of incidents and accidents documented
by the Spanish Maritime Administration from 2000
to 2004 in the geographical area of the Strait of
Gibraltar.
2 ENVIRONMENT
2.1 Geographical environment
The Strait of Gibraltar (Figure 1) is the natural
passage which links the Mediterranean Sea with the
Atlantic Ocean. Although its boundaries have never
been formally established, for the present research
study the western boundary has been defined by the
line connecting Cape Trafalgar with Cape Spartel
while the eastern one has been considered by the
opposition Europe Point - Punta Almina.
The European coast, limited by Cape Trafalgar
and Europe Point, is 55 nautical miles long, whereas
the African coast from Cape Spartel to Punta Almina
is 42 nautical miles long.
Its longitudinal axis is divided into two sections.
The Western section, some 18 nautical miles in
length and oriented approximately east - west, runs
from the line connecting the Island of Tarifa, located
on the Spanish coast, with Cala Grande, on the
African coast, towards the Atlantic Ocean. The
Eastern section runs from west by southwest to east
by northeast, along some 15 nautical miles to reach
the eastern Strait boundary.
The channel presents its maximum width, 24.2
nautical miles, on its western limit, between Cape
Trafalgar and Cape Spartel, while the narrowest
section is defined by the line connecting median
point between Tarifa and Punta Guadalmesi River,
on the northern coast, and Punta Cires, on the
southern coast. At this point, the channel is 7.45
nautical miles wide. The eastern embouchure has a
maximum width of 12.5 nautical miles.
On the northern coast there are significant shoals
and reef areas alternating with broad bays and sandy
beaches. On this coast are located the ports of
Algeciras- La Línea, Tarifa and Gibraltar.
The southern coast, geologically very similar to
the northern one, has, however, a much more rugged
and inaccessible coastline. On this coast we find the
ports of Tangier, located east of Punta Malabata,
Tangiers – Mediterranean, close to Punta Cires, and
Ceuta, located by Punta Almina, on the eastern end
of the African coast.
Figure 1. General overview of the Strait of Gibraltar
191
2.2 Traffic patterns
The maritime traffic through the Strait of Gibraltar
follows a clearly defined pattern which is
conditioned by four basic parameters: the last port of
call of the ship, destination port, the routeing
measures established and prevailing
weather conditions.
In general the flow of maritime traffic follows
two fundamental axes (Figure 2). The most
important in terms of traffic density, is the
longitudinal axis defined by the tracks of the ships
passing from the Mediterranean Sea towards the
Atlantic Ocean and vice versa.
The second axis is defined by the tracks of the
vessels, mainly ferry ships and High Speed Crafts,
connecting the ports located on both sides of the
Strait.
Figure 2. Cumulative maritime traffic radar surveillance picture
Source: Tarifa VTS
The combination of a very high traffic density
area (94,157 transits identified through year 2005)
(Figure 3), the existence of high concentration of
crossing tracks and occasionally very unfavorable
weather conditions within a narrow channel, have
forced the Spanish and Moroccan governments to
promote, through the International Maritime
Organization, the establishment of several marine
traffic organization and monitoring measures (Figure
4) – traffic separation scheme, mandatory reporting
system, precautionary areas, vessel traffic services –
all of them complemented by an extensive network
of maritime signals covering both, northern and
southern coasts.
Figure 3. Traffic evolution. Years 2005-2008
Source: Tarifa VTS.
Figure 4. Traffic separation scheme and precautionary areas in
the Strait of Gibraltar Source: IMO.
3 HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF MARITIME
EMERGENCIES IN THE STRAIT OF
GIBRALTAR
3.1 Documentary sources and research structure
The historical analysis of emergencies in the Straits
has been developed on the basis of the information
provided by three historical data sets:
1 The database of the General Directorate of
Merchant Marine.
2 Annual reports of the Maritime Rescue
Coordination Centre of Tarifa, and
3 Annual reports of the Maritime Rescue
Coordination Centre of Algeciras.
The analysis of the three data sets reveals a lack
of harmonization that, although the big similarities
in their basic structure, leads to significant
differences in the criteria followed while classifying
the information related to each event. It it should be
63.179
65.732
67.354
72.698
30.978
30.456
38.600
33.634
94.157
96.188
105.954
106.332
0
20.000
40.000
60.000
80.000
100.000
120.000
2005
2006
2007
2008
TRANSITS
EW/WE
FERRYS
HSC
TOTAL
192
highlighted the lack of information concerning the
initiating events or causes of accidents and the
extent of damage to property.
Nevertheless, despite the lack of some important
information, the geographical location of each event
and a detailed description of the units deployed
during the response operations are always available.
Due to the high level of dispersion of information
regarding maritime emergencies occurred in the
Strait of Gibraltar and the lack of clearly defined
relationships among the historical records, it
becomes necessary a previous compilation of the
information, and the unification of criteria for the
classification and its subsequent analysis. This all
led to the creation of a special data base called
GIBSAR, which is the basic tool for the
development of this historical analysis of maritime
accidents in the Strait of Gibraltar.
This database does not only compile information
provided by the marine rescue coordination centers
of Algeciras and Tarifa and the statistical series of
data produce by the General Directorate of Merchant
Marine, but it also establishes a scale for the
assessment of effect, both for individuals an vessels,
caused by the consequences of these events.
3.2 Analysis of maritime emergencies. Global data
The analysis of the data (Table 1) shows that the
total maritime emergencies documented by the
Spanish Maritime Administration in the period
2000-2004 within the Strait of Gibraltar area comes
to a total amount of 1,216 cases. Only 23.5% of this
these figures, 284 cases, are due to false alarms
while the remaining 76.5%, 922 cases, are due to
real alerts. Notice that the annual distribution of the
data presents a great homogeneity.
Table 1. Distribution of real and false alerts related to mari-
time emergencies in the Strait of Gibraltar. Years 2000-2004
Emergencies
Year
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
Total
Real 181 187 181 189 184 922
False 61 66 51 58 48 284
Total 242 253 232 247 232 1206
Table 2 shows that 90.8% of total number of real
cases are related to incidents, that means there is nei-
ther major structural damages to ships nor losses of
human lives nor missing persons nor pollution epi-
sodes involved in the event.
On other hand, only 9.2% of the real emergencies
are related to marine accidents, considering such
events as those involving total loss of the ship or
major structural damages, or losses human lives or
missing persons or a pollution episode.
In this case, the distribution is also very homoge-
neous, with values ranging from a minimum of 181
emergencies documented in 2000 and 2002 to a
maximum of 189 emergencies in 2003.
Table 2. Distribution of accidents and incidents related to real
maritime emergencies in the Strait of Gibraltar. Years 2000-
2004
Emergencies
Year
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
Total
Accidents 20 19 14 12 20 85
Incidents 161 168 167 177 164 837
Total 181 187 181 189 184 922
Table 3 shows the distribution of all real emer-
gencies attended in the period 2000 to 2004 accord-
ing to subtype.
There is a clear predominance with 24.1% of the
total amount of performed search and rescue opera-
tions due to mechanical failure of ships systems
and/or services. Pollution episodes amounts 15.6%
of the total number of cases.
We should also focus the attention on the number
of search and rescue operations related to illegal
immigration, whether in the preventive stage,
escorting the crafts used in the passage through the
Strait as well as in the phase of assistance to the
occupants or, where appropriate, during search,
location and recovery of corpses. These cases come
to represent 12.8% of search and rescue operations.
Operations related to drifting objects varies from
5% to 10%, assistance to users of recreational crafts
and devices amount 8.4% and 7.2% respectively,
rescue operations on coast and cliffs 5.6%, and
drifting boats, which comes to be 5% of the total.
We should also consider the medical transfers
between Spanish hospitals located on both sides of
the Strait (Ceuta to Seville or Cadiz), which means
4.6% of total operations, nearly twice the rate of
medical evacuations from ships which rates 2.6% of
the total.
193
Table 3. Distribution of real emergencies according to sub-
type. Strait of Gibraltar. Years 2000-2004
Subtype
Year
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Total
Leisure crafts
12
11
8
22
13
66
Assistance to navigation
2
5
3
3
6
19
Overdue
0
3
0
1
1
5
Allision /
Collision
2 3 3 0 2 10
Pollution
29
35
35
23
22
144
Drifting crafts
12
7
7
11
9
46
List / Stability
0
0
1
0
0
1
Medical Evacuation
5
9
5
4
1
24
Medical Transfer
4
3
11
7
17
42
Mechanical
Failure
37 38 40 50 57 222
Man Overboard
5
4
3
3
4
19
Sinking
2
3
4
3
4
16
Fire/ Explosion
2
4
2
2
10
Illegal
Immigration
23 23 19 38 15 118
Drifting Objects
18
18
24
8
9
77
SOS Message
1
0
0
2
0
3
Castaway
Rescue
0 0 0 1 1 2
Coastal Rescue
17
13
8
4
10
52
Grounding
3
3
3
4
6
19
Leaking
4
2
2
2
10
Other
3
3
5
3
3
17
Total
181
187
181
189
184
922
Regarding the severity of the consequences on
persons, crafts or vessels and on the environment, it
should be notice that minor and negligible severity
cases range nearly 30%, while moderate severity
cases range 30.4% and major severity 28.5%. Severe
cases involving total losses of ships, losses of human
lives, missing persons or severe pollution events
range 6.5% (Table 4).
Table 4. Distribution of real emergencies according to severity
rate. Strait of Gibraltar. Years 2000-2004
Severity
Year
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
Total
Severe
15
13
12
9
11
60
Major
50
61
54
58
40
263
Moderate
57
49
47
77
84
314
Minor
14
17
8
8
9
56
Negligible
45
47
60
37
40
229
Total
181
187
181
189
184
922
According to table 5 and regarding casualty con-
dition, almost 90% of the persons involved were as-
sisted or rescued, while 6% of the total amount of
persons involved in emergencies got safe by their
own means and the number of persons who lost their
lives or were missing rates 2.2%.
Table 5. Distribution of real emergencies according to casualty
condition. Strait of Gibraltar. Years 2000-2004
Casualty
Condition
Year
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
Total
“Shelf rescued”
328
34
6
12
2
382
Rescued
431
825
474
2156
542
4428
Assisted
9
398
373
303
198
1281
Evacuated
65
11
16
12
17
121
Died before arrival
10
27
17
2
1
57
Died after arrival
22
4
12
12
9
59
Missing
5
3
7
9
1
25
4 CONCLUSION
Annual distribution of emergencies, considering the
whole period, presents a very stable trend, ranging
from a minimum value of 181 to a maximum of 189
cases.
In terms of geographical distribution, two main
areas support the highest rate of emergencies both
quantitatively and qualitatively. Those areas are the
central zone of the Strait of Gibraltar and Algeciras
Bay (Figures 5 and 6).
The results of the study highlighted the large
number events, such as medical transfers, pollution
incidents in port service waters, operations related to
the use of recreational crafts and devices, swimmers,
diving and other natures related events which,
although not considered as maritime emergencies,
required the deployment of specific marine search
and rescue resources.
It should be noticed the low rate of emergencies
directly related to any maritime search and rescue
service responsibilities such as leakage, collision or
allision, fire or explosion, heel or stranding, which
all together rate 7.2% of the SAR operations
performed. This rate would increase up to 9.8% if
medical evacuations conducted from ships or boats
are included.
Figure 5. Geographical distribution real emergencies according
to subtype. Strait of Gibraltar. Years 2000-2004
194
Figure 6. Geographical distribution real emergencies according
to severity. Strait of Gibraltar. Years 2000-2004
REFERENCES.
Arroyo, I. Legislación marítima y fuentes complementa-
rias. Tecnos. Madrid (2004). Instrumento de adhesión de 29
de enero de 1993 de España al Convenio de 27 de abril de
1979 Internacional sobre búsqueda y salvamento marítimo,
hecho en Hamburgo. BOE nº 103 de 30 de abril de 1993.
Madrid (1993).
Instrumento de ratificación de la Convención de las Naciones
Unidas sobre el derecho del mar, hecho en Montego Bay el
10 de diciembre de 1982. BOE nº 39 de 14 de febrero de
1997. Madrid (1997).
International Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue
Manual. IAMSAR. Volume I. Organization and
Management. IMO / ICAO. London / Montreal (1999).
International Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue
Manual. IAMSAR. Volume II. Mission Coordination. IMO
/ ICAO. London / Montreal (2007).
International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea
SOLAS. Consolidated Edition. IMO. London (2004).
International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea
SOLAS. Amendments of 2003, 2004 and
2005. IMO. London (2006).
EMERGENCIES
ACCUMULATED
SEVERITY
ACCIDENTS
+
INCIDENTS
ACCIDENTS
+
INCIDENTS
+
POLLUTIONS
