A Study on the Design of Coastal Fairway Width Based on a Risk Assessment Model in Korean Waterways

Abstract

In this study, the appropriate fairway width was designed through the maritime traffic safety evaluation model. By applying the concept of L-converted traffic, it was found that the current maritime traffic volume is 5 to 20 ships per hour in the sea area near Gun-san Port. High-density sections were identified through density analysis based on maritime traffic volume, which ranged from 5 to 10 km, and sections with an area of 10 km or more were also analyzed. Considering the general traffic flow and density, it is necessary to set a route width of 10 km or more in the target sea area, as well as to design a minimum fairway width that ensures safety for all types of ocean use. In this study, four traffic flows were analyzed through machine learning and a comprehensive environmental stress model was created for the traffic flows. The amount of safety change according to the increase in traffic volume was compared and reviewed for a fairway width of 1 km to 10 km, which can be generally formed according to the characteristics of the sea area. In the assessment, we found that when the fairway width was 1–4 km and the L-converted traffic volume was 15 or more, the ES ≥ 750 value exceeded 10% of the total, thus creating a burden on the ship operators. In particular, it was found that the ES ≥ 750 value was 20% at most when the L-converted traffic volume was 20 or more. In a comprehensive analysis, the ES > 750 was found to be less than 10% when the fairway width was 6 km or more in the sea area with one crossing passage at 5 to 20 ships per hour, which was the experimental condition of this study, and the ship operator’s burden was determined to be insignificant. Based on these results, when designing routes between offshore wind farms that will be established in the future, we expect that it will be possible to design the minimum fairway width to ensure safety according to the traffic volume.