Marine Salvage

Capt. George H. Reid is a licensed US merchant Marine officer and president of his own consulting and surveying firm.

TRB Conference Proceedings 30: Marine Salvage Capabilities: Responding to Terrorist Attacks in U.S. Portsâ€"Actions to Improve Readiness is the report of the TRB Marine Board Workshop on Marine Salvage Response Capability held on August 5-6, 2003, in Washington, DC. The workshop addressed economic, legal, forensic, environmental, and human casualty issues related to salvage. The report contains a summary of workshop discussions and committee recommendations highlighting important topics and issues associated with marine salvage that warrant further, more detailed inquiry by the responsible federal agencies.

Prompt and effective response to time-critical ship casualties and emergencies, for example, by refloating stranded ships, can prevent marine pollution and economic disruption of ports and waterways. The marine salvage industry, which conducts this work, has undergone significant changes in the past two decades. This book evaluates these changes and assesses the adequacy of marine salvage in the United States. Among the issues addressed are conditions in the salvage industry; emergency response-time; national salvage policy; workforce needs; salvage techniques; and the contribution of the Navy to the national salvage capability.

Authored by a man with extensive experience in salvage operations, this is a comprehensive treatment of ship salvage in all its aspects, but written in plain language. The early chapters introduce the concepts of marine salvage and explain how the parties involved in a salvage operation relate. Ship construction and naval architecture as they pertain to possible later salvage of a ship are explained, and the types of casualties are described. The fine points of surveys, salvage plans and processes, rigging, restoring buoyancy, lifting, machinery and equipment used in salvage, cargo handling, and the special aspects related to salvage of tankers are discussed in complete detail. Casualty management is also covered. The book's appendices include necessary salvage contracts, sample forms, and checklists for all possible situations.

This book questions the use of salvage law as legal regulatory framework for the remuneration of environmental services in salvage operations, proposing that such services should be based on direct contracting between commercial salvors and coastal States. Adopting an environment-first approach, it argues that direct contracting better serves and promotes environmental protection outcomes. It also takes a functional view of the law as a tool to promote values and sought outcomes. Salvage operations are recognised as the first line of defence against pollution following shipping incidents. Although regulated under the law of salvage, these operations form an integral component of a framework of environmental protection measures regulated under different legal instruments or laws. The law of salvage fails to effectively integrate salvage operations into broader pollution response mechanisms because it does not align comfortably with this framework of laws. Despite the emphasis on environmental protection in the 1989 London Salvage Convention, the Convention maintains the traditional notion of salvage operations as a service to property, while environmental outcomes and the remuneration of environmental services are positioned as a secondary outcome of the law of salvage. This book argues that directly contracting for environmental services bolsters the primacy of environmental protection and the functional use of law to further environmental protection and policy formulation. Direct contracting between coastal States and salvors for environmental services complements existing practices and pollution response mechanisms and provides a sound legal basis for the effective realisation of salvage operations as the first line of defence against pollution following shipping incidents without fundamentally altering the established commercial identity of the traditional law of salvage. This book will be key reading for students, academics, and practitioners working at the intersection of shipping and environmental law.