Concerns related to the safety of bulk carriers we, most of all, the increasing number of bulk carrier accidents which amount to 425 during last 20 years; half of them are totally lost. A number of bulk tarriers are still missing. Bulk carrier safety has become an international issue since 1995. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) embarked on the legislation as a countermeasure to the increasing number of the bulk carrier accidents. The IMO discussed in the safety of bulk carriers including the strength of transverse watertight bulkheads, especially when the ship carries high density cargoes and the damage stability of bulk carriers in the flooded condition. In this study, statistics and causes of accidents of bulk carriers are analyzed in order to identify special features of bulk carrier accident and causes of the casualty. This study examines certain cases of hull collapses and severence which resulted in sinking to infer possible causes of missing ships.

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• 박진수