The governance regarding shipping safety in the Surabaya's West Shipping Channel is very important because it affects the smoothness of movement of ships, which carry goods and passengers to the ports in Surabaya City. Due to the frequent occurrence of ship accidents in the channel, there is a possibility that these were caused by several factors related to the governance in the shipping channel. The required data was obtained from relevant informants, while other supporting information was obtained by direct observation in the field. Then the data was analyzed using descriptive qualitative method. From this analysis, it was found several findings concerning the factors causing the accident of ships in the shipping channel, namely: the technical condition of the ships, the level of professionalism of the ship's crews, natural factors, the condition of navigation aids, and installation of infrastructures in the sea. The next findings were about things that have not been achieved by the government, such as law enforcement regarding the ships’ maintenance, education and training for the ship's crew especially in handling ships’ accidents at sea, law enforcement regarding the installation of undersea infrastructures, and the installation of proper navigation aids along the shipping channel.