The Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration has announced that China’s first facility dedicated to the investigation of maritime accidents will officially open by the end of 2013.
In the announcement, the Maritime Safety Administration also stated that construction on the new maritime investigation laboratory began at the end of October and is expected to be complete half way through next year.
The laboratory will be used by a variety of agencies involved in investigation of maritime accidents to analyze the events leading to serious accidents, in an attempt to identify preventable causes and improve maritime safety. The accidents that will be investigated include all of those that result in a significant loss of life, injury or damage to property, and will include explosions on ships, vessel collisions, oil spills and sinking of vessels, said the administration in a press release on Friday.
According to Chen Xiaoguang, the deputy director of the Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration, the hope is that the creation of an investigation laboratory dedicated solely to this purpose will help to make investigations into marine accidents more accurate, faster and more scientific.
Chen told the press in his press release that previously, investigators had to make personal judgments based on their own experience when assessing a marine accident due to a lack of scientific data and guidelines. Previous methods included time consuming visits to the accident scene and interviews with the parties that were involved in an accident. The laboratory aims to bring new technologies such as accident simulators, paint and trace analysis, which provide more objective information that can be used to recreate accident scenes, said Chen.
Chen also added that the facility will help to strengthen Shangai’s standing as a world class, international shipping center and a hub of marine research.
Jiao Tong University and Shanghai Maritime University are collaborating with the administration in the development of the laboratory, and will be providing trained investigators and researchers. The two universities signed a contract at the end of last month that will encourage the universities to share personnel, information and technology with the administration in the creation of the laboratory.
There will be eight different departments forming the laboratory, each with a different emphasis and specialization that will collaborate. The Maritime Safety Administration will head four offices that will focus on trace and paint analysis, analysis of human factors in accident causation, accident simulation and electronic evidence analysis, while the universities will operate offices specializing in ship model testing, oil spill analysis and analysis of machinery and equipment.
