The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) received 990 reports of marine transportation occurrences in 2025, including six fatalities, as recorded in the TSB annual report.
The total of 257 marine transportation accidents represents an increase from the 213 accidents in 2024 but is 4% below the 10-year average of 267. In 2025, 85% were shipping accidents, slightly more than 83% on average over the previous 10 years. The remaining 15% of accidents in 2025 were aboard ship (when a person is seriously or fatally injured), just below the 10-year annual average of 17%.
According to information provided by Transport Canada, marine activity for Canadian commercial non-fishing vessels over 15 gross tons (GT) was 23 732 thousand commercial vessel-km in 2025, which is 11% above the 2015–2024 average. This yields a rate of 3.1 shipping accidents per million commercial vessel-km in 2025, lower than the prior 10-year average of 3.3.
The six marine transportation fatalities represent a 50% reduction from the 2024 total of 12 and a reduction from the 10-year average of 15. Of these fatalities, three involved shipping accidents, below the average of 9 per year. As in previous years, many of the fatalities (3 of the 6) were related to commercial fishing (Canadian-flag vessels in Canadian waters). Due to this continuing trend, commercial fishing safety remains a key safety issue on the TSB’s Watchlist.
The 733 marine transportation incidents reported to the TSB in 2025 represents a 1% decrease from 2024 and is 13% below the 10-year average of 842. As in previous years, most reportable incidents (82%) were related to the total failure of machinery or technical systems.
Type of shipping accidents
The most frequent types of shipping accidents in 2025 were:
- collisions (28%)
- grounding (25%)
- fire/explosion (19%)
The total number of collisions (62) was 18% below the 10-year (2015-2024) average of 76, the number of groundings (55) was only 1% over the 10-year average of 54 and the number of fire/explosion accidents (41) was 10% over the 10-year average of 37.
Type of vessel
The total number of fishing vessels (71) involved in shipping accidents in 2025 was significantly higher compared to 56 in 2024, but close to the 2015 to 2024 average of 72. Fishing vessels represented 29% of all vessels involved in shipping accidents.
Download the full report: TSB – Marine Transportation Occurrences in 2025
