Proposal for Dynamic Traffic Separation Scheme to Reduce CurrentRelated Ship Collision Risks in the Istanbul Strait

Abstract

The Istanbul Strait provides access to the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, which are both major arteries of world trade, by connecting Asia and Europe. As approximately 35,000 ships pass through the Istanbul Strait each year, it has significant strategic importance in the world supply chain. However, due to the chaos caused by the current ship traffic and the combination of environmental and meteorological conditions in one of the world's most dangerous waterways, maritime accidents are inevitable. In order to minimize the risk of accidents, the Istanbul Strait is divided in half by a Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS), and ship traffic is managed based on this reference line. However, as with the rest of the world, the TSS in the Istanbul Strait is also divided in half, without taking into account the geography and current regime of the Strait. Therefore, serious ship accidents caused by the current occur frequently. In this study, the most suitable TSS proposal for the Istanbul Strait was presented using ship bridge simulators. Dynamic TSS was studied using ship bridge simulators, and the pressure line-velocity change findings derived from the positive current theory in the literature were processed into simulator scenario packages and evaluated for different ship sizes. Thus, taking into account ship hydrodynamics, current regime, and maritime practice, optimum TSSs were defined for specific ship size ranges for the first time in the literature.