ISU Associate Members' day The International Salvage Union held its annual conference for its Associate and Affiliate Members in London in March. There were some 180 delegates at the Merchant Taylor’s Hall. Peter Townsend head of marine for AmTrust at Lloyd’s (right, centre), questioned whether property underwriters could trust salvors. He concluded that they could, saying: “salvors do a fantastic job” but added that the issue was with perception and increased transparency and communications with the insurance industry would help. He also raised the issue of how insurers could encourage salvors to invest in new equipment and noted that, with increasing vessel size, cargo underwriters are taking an increasing share of a marine adventure but do not have a correspondingly stronger voice. Elsewhere, Lemonia Tsaroucha from the European Commission (right, top) explained to delegates how the new EU guidelines on Places of Refuge had been developed with the assistance of the ISU and other interested parties. She acknowledged that a motivation for the new guidelines was “the need to change attitudes towards ships in need of
assistance within national administrations, competent authorities and the industry.” Importantly, she said that next steps included engaging the International Maritime Organisation for the continuous improvement of the international framework on places of refuge. Case studies included Jason Bennett of Ardent on the removal of the wreck of the MV SMART in South Africa and the salvage and removal of offshore units by Smit’s Richard Janssen. Rosalind Spink of Solis Marine (right, below) and Matthew Bierwagen of Resolve Marine described the engineering challenges in lifting the sunken Indian Navy Submarine, SINDHURAKSHAK. The day concluded with a panel of experts considering the difficulties of salvage cases involving mega-ships. There was widespread agreement that more crossindustry work was needed to address the issues – particularly in the case of large boxships – where dealing with the discharged cargo is acknowledged to be one of the major problems. President of the ISU, John Witte summed up the day saying, “I look forward to a future where trust, honesty and mutual respect are the norm. It is not a choice but an obligation.” See also pictures page 10
Tsavliris operations In January, the Tsavliris Salvage Tug MEGAS ALEXANDROS (6,250 BHP – 73 TBP) was sent from her Piraeus salvage station to assist the MV OCEAN GLORY - 6,036 dwt and fully laden with urea. She was immobilised due to mechanical issues 200 nautical miles northwest of Benghazi, Libya. On arrival at the casualty, a towage connection was made and she was towed safely to Piraeus roads and delivered to port tugs. In February, Tsavliris dispatched the AHTS RESOLVE EARL - 12,000 BHP and 135 TBP - from the Bahamas to assist the tanker KRITI AMBER - 45,614 tonnes dwt and fully laden with crude oil - which was immobilised due to engine problems about 13 nautical miles south of Sombrero Key, Florida, USA. The casualty was safely towed to Matanzas (outside Cuban territorial waters) and the tow was delivered to port tugs.
Also in February, Tsavliris Salvage used the tug ONA DON LORENZO - 5,500 BHP and 62 TBP from Buenos Aires, Argentina to assist the bulker ALKIMOS HERACLES, partly laden with 50,000 tons of iron ore and grounded in the Canal Punta Indio. On the same day, the vessel refloated on her own and proceeded to Recalada outer anchorage for routine inspection by the Coast Guard. 5
In another bulker case, Tsavliris Salvage was engaged to provide technical assistance to the NEW KATERINA (above) – 170,082 dwt and fully laden with iron ore, which had grounded in the Suez Canal. Tsavliris Salvage provided technical consultancy and support including planning, surveillance and risk assessment.