Visualization of Ship Collision Risk in the Inland Bridge Waterway Based on the Maritime Traffic Simulation

Abstract The collision risk is increasing in inland bridge waterways given that the restrictive waterway and many of obstructions. It is crucial for seafarers and supervisors to identify the high-risk areas in a bridge waterway. This paper takes the Wuhan Bridge Waterway in the Yangtze River as a case. In accordance with the maritime traffic simulation, the potential collision frequency and its distribution are obtained in order to evaluate the risk in different areas of the case waterway. The nautical routes with respect to the ships passing the waterway and ferryboats crossing over the waterway are then modeled. A collision detecting method is proposed to obtain the collision information extracted from the simulation data. This collision information is visualized in order to illustrate the collision risk in each area. The high risk sites can be illustrated by the proposed method in order to assist the maritime supervisors in paying pointed attentions to the identified sensitive areas.