Marine Casualty Management

Marine casualty management is what ship and shore teams do when something goes wrong at sea or in port: working out what happened, deciding what to do, doing it, and keeping watch as the situation changes. It is part procedure, part judgement, and, in 2026, often part laptop and unreliable Wi-Fi.

At The Sarcastic Mariner we use A.P.E.M. to structure that work. It is the classic four-step cycle from passage planning, adapted for casualties.

The A.P.E.M. cycle

• Appraisal: what just happened, and what do we actually know?
• Planning: who needs to be involved, and what are the options?
• Execution: who is in charge, and who does what?
• Monitoring: keeping watch, refreshing the picture and adjusting.

It is not strictly linear. Real casualties loop back, and new information sends teams back to appraisal more often than any plan admits.

Start here: our casualty management guides

• The A.P.E.M. Framework for Maritime Casualty Management: how the cycle applies today, from data overload to command clarity.
• Maritime Casualty Investigation: A.P.E.M. of a Casualty: the gap between what was planned and what actually happened.
• Port Casualty Management: The 5-Minute Spill and the 3-Year Investigation: the first minutes after a spill, the most common mistakes, and what changes when cargo is distressed.

The human side of a casualty

Casualties are managed by people under pressure. Our Human Factor series looks at the decisions, fatigue and culture behind incidents, and The Quiet Cost of Competence looks at what that pressure costs crews.