Institute of Transportation, MOTC

　　Previous studies indicated that most marine accidents occur in ports and their vicinity. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the safety of ship navigation in ports. From the viewpoints of port operators, a QFD model (Quality Function Deployment) is constructed to determine the policy to improve the safety of ship navigation in ports by transferring the requirements of shipmasters navigating ships in ports into the characteristics of service operations of port operators. To validate the model, 81 shipmasters berthing their ships in Kaohsiung were sampled. The results indicate that vessel traffic, operator ability in an emergency, and physical and mental conditions of operators and operator ability for communication are listed as higher priorities of characteristics to be improved. The results can provide information for port operators to improve the navigation safety of ships in ports.