Ship impact has become one of the main causes of wharf damage and failure, and the damage reduces the bearing capacity and durability of the wharf structure. In order to clarify the characteristics of wharf collision accidents in China, 54 ship collision accidents that occurred in the coastal areas from the Guangxi Autonomous Region to Liaoning Province and along the Yangtze River from 2005 to 2022 were analyzed. According to the statistics, the basic characteristics of wharf collision accidents, accident causes, different structural types of wharves, and ship damage characteristics were analyzed.

Bulk carriers accounted for 57.41% of collision-accident ships, followed by oil tankers at 20.37%, container ships at 9.26%, general cargo ships at 5.56%, and multi-purpose vessels, liquid chemical tankers, tourist passenger ships, and pilot boats each accounting for 1.85%. The designed berthing capacities of wharves involved in the collision accidents ranged from 2,000 to 200,000 t, among which pile-supported beam-slab type wharves accounted for 47.62%, pile-supported pier type wharves 28.57%, caisson gravity type wharves 11.91%, floating wharves 4.76%, and large-diameter cylinder gravity type wharves, diaphragm wall type wharves, and covered steel sheet pile type wharves each accounting for 2.38%. Economic losses caused by collision accidents involving wharves are generally significant.

The causes of collision accidents involve all aspects of the “Human-Machine-Environment-Management” system in ship navigation safety, with improper operation, failure to use a safe speed, and ship machinery or electrical system failures being the top three primary causes.

Damage to wharves in collision accidents is primarily categorized into structural damage and cargo-handling equipment damage. Common features of accident damage include rubber fender breakage, mooring block damage, guardrail deformation, and wharf rail track misalignment. Hydraulic structure damage in pile-supported wharves mainly occurs in piles, pile caps, ship fenders, mooring platforms, and horizontal braces, while gravity-type wharves typically experience breast wall cracks and structural tilting. Floating wharves suffer from deformation dents, water seepage, and connecting component damage or detachment. Collision prevention facilities installed on some wharves provide partial protection.

Most ship impacts do not cause complete wharf collapse. However, high-impact velocities exceeding design berthing standards significantly increase the probability of catastrophic structural collapse, often accompanied by crane falls into the water. Gravity-type wharves demonstrate superior impact resistance due to their greater horizontal load-bearing capacity and lateral stiffness, resulting in less damage compared to pile-supported structures and avoiding irreparable failures such as total collapse.

Primary ship damage types include sinking, hull cracks, and deformation. Ships’ higher local stiffness and the deformation of steel during collisions absorb impact energy, leading to less severe damage than that sustained by wharves. Most ship damage occurs above the waterline, making repairs easier compared to structural repairs on wharves.

The maximum impact velocity of wharf collision accidents at different cumulative frequencies was calculated using the Gumbel distribution and Pearson-III distribution. The maximum impact velocities for a 50-year return period were 4.08 m/s and 4.01 m/s, respectively. After verification, the Pearson-III curve demonstrated better fitting performance. The impact angle is also characterized, providing a basis for the calculation of abnormal berthing loads as accidental loads for reliability design.

According to the current research progress, three protective measures—physical protection of wharves against collision accidents, abnormal berthing reliability design, and risk identification and early warning systems—are reviewed to provide a reference for protective design against wharf collision accidents. Physical protection relies on energy dissipation or transfer to safeguard the main wharf structure, but its effectiveness against random collision accidents is limited. Key port wharves may adopt enhanced reliability design methods. Risk identification and early warning represent a developing trend in ship collision prevention. Combining data models for ship trajectory prediction and collision avoidance intervention holds broad application prospects.