Ranking the main risks that can lead to the pollution of the marine environment in the Black Sea

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to present the way in which the main risks that can lead to the pollution of the marine environment of the Black Sea can be ranked using multicriteria analysis, based on the AHP process (Analytic Hierarchy Process). This analysis represents a solid basis for the decision-making process. Based on this hierarchy, the decision-makers in the maritime field can easily visualize both the risk assessment criteria and the risks that must be taken into account. The analyzed risks (oil spills, shipwrecks, ship collision, fire explosion) in relation to the considered criteria (bad weather conditions, high-density traffic, human errors, ship age) have been ranked as follows: "ship collision" risk with overall priority = 0.366 is the one that must be considered the most dangerous in relation to the considered criteria, followed in descending order by the risk of "oil spills" with overall priority = 0.303, the risk of "shipwrecks" with overall priority = 0.181 and finally the risk of "fire explosion" with overall priority = 0.150.