Salvage operations entail business, trade, or industry activities that partly or wholly recover materials, including metals, chemicals, drums, shipping containers, and automobiles, from accidents and other dangerous situations. Accordingly, marine salvage operations involve saving a ship, water vessels, cargo, and other marine property from hazards in navigable waters.
The hazard may lead to the loss or destruction of the ship, water vessel, or other property if a rescuer does not reach out. It may result from machine breakdown, hull fracture, fire and explosion, sinking, collision, and grounding.
Some common marine salvage operations include extinguishing fires, refloating a sunken ship, pumping water from a ship taking on water, and clearing wrecks from coastlines. Other activities include removing pollutants from a damaged ship, keeping a ship afloat in cases where it may sink, and reducing wreckage where it is impossible or too costly to remove all of it.
There are two basic marine salvage operations types: contract and pure salvage. With contract salvage, the client and the salvor (the party conducting the rescue) sign a contract for a fixed amount of money, regardless of the recovery operation that may be required. In contrast, there is no contract in pure salvage. However, the law implies a relationship between the two parties.
Three elements must be present in pure salvage. First, an imminent danger to the ship, water vessel, or other property could lead to destruction, deterioration, or loss. Second, the salvor must volunteer to offer their services. Third, the salvage action should be successful wholly or in part. Unlike contract salvage, where there is fixed remuneration, the salvor gets rewarded in proportion to the total value recovered.
More specific types apply to various scenarios within the two broad marine salvage operations types. These include offshore salvage, harbor salvage, cargo salvage, equipment salvage, shipwreck salvage, afloat salvage, and clearance salvage.
Offshore salvage involves rescuing sunken and stranded ships in open waters. Such environments usually have harsh weather making rescue operations difficult. Thus, offshore salvage may take months due to work interruptions by weather. With harbor salvage, the vessel experiences a hazard in sheltered water. Therefore, it is less challenging than offshore salvage.
Cargo salvage emphasizes rescuing the cargo more than the vessel. This is because it may contain hazardous material that could endanger the environment. It may also have expensive equipment or cargo requiring immediate rescuing since the water may destroy it beyond repair.
Equipment salvage focuses on recovering vital vessel components such as engines, driving systems, and turbines. Mostly, the salvor disassembles, dissects, or destroys the vessel’s hull to access this equipment. A successful equipment salvage happens when the equipment survives water intrusion.
A low-priority task compared to other marine salvage operations, shipwreck salvage, clears hazardous material and vessel components resulting in an unsightly marine environment. Salvors use cheap and practical methods such as cutting the wreckage into small parts, refloating them, and discarding them in deep waters.
In some cases, the vessel stays afloat despite damage. The rescue effort conducted in such a scenario is called afloat salvage. It is less difficult than other salvage types and involves hull repair, structural bracing, ballast tank rebalancing, and cargo shifting.
Lastly, clearance salvage happens after catastrophes, including hurricanes, tsunamis, and wars. Such events lead to several water vessel wreckages that may block harbors and waterways. The objective is to scavenge the damaged property and clear the harbor and waterways for other vessels.
