Review of risk concepts and perspectives in risk assessment of maritime transportation

Shipping accidents can have severe consequences, causing concerns to various stakeholders. This has led to research into risk assessment methods for the maritime transportation system. This paper presents an analysis of risk concepts and perspectives adopted in 44 methods for risk assessment in maritime transportation. As a methodological framework for analysis, a historical classification of risk concepts and a novel categorization of risk perspectives along the realist-constructivist continuum are applied. Analyses reveal that in the maritime transportation, risk is strongly tied to probability and that a wide range of perspectives is found, from realism over scientific proceduralism to more constructivist views.