European Maritime Safety Agency has released (October 2008) a maritime accident review for the year 2007, first of a series to be published annually.
It is reported that although there has not been a passenger ship disaster since the 1990s and there is not been a major oil spill since 2002, a significant increase in the number of vessels involved accidents in and around EU waters has been observed. The European statistics reflect trends in global reviews undertaken by P&I clubs. A ship is twice as likely to be involved in a serious grounding, collision accident today compared with only five years ago and the costs of these accidents have doubled.
The review does not focus on the causes of accidents however it is acknowledged that there is evidence to show that the great majority of accidents have a human error component.
The attached document is the EMSA Maritime Accident Review 2007. | 
