Salvage World Q4 2012

December 2012

INTERNATIONAL SALVAGE UNION

ISU President holds talks with China’s Minister of Transport ISU President, Andreas Tsavliris, held talks with China’s Minister of Transport, Xu Zu Yuan, following the Comité Maritime International’s (CMI) conference in Beijing in October.

The in-depth discussions covered general shipping and salvage issues and in particular the issue of fair reward for salvors for the benefit their operations confer on the marine environment. Mr Yuan said on behalf of China he was disappointed that the CMI decided not to support changes to the 1989 Salvage Convention. He made clear his support for ISU on the issue and expressed his hope that ISU will be successful in its continuing work on the matter with the P&I Clubs and others.

The minister also indicated that China welcomes further dialogue with ISU on matters of mutual interest. The growth of sea trade with China has expanded significantly in the last decade and salvage in Chinese waters is an important issue for salvors. China’s overarching salvage business, China Rescue and Salvage is a member of the ISU. Describing events in Beijing Andreas Tsavliris said: “ISU is disappointed that the CMI Conference did not support

ISU President Andreas Tsavliris (left) with China’s Minister of Transport, Xu Zu Yuan

its proposals for modest change to the 1989 Salvage Convention. ISU is nevertheless grateful to those countries which did support change. I am also grateful for the supportive comments from China’s Minister of Transport in my meeting with him and we will continue to

work to ensure that salvors are properly rewarded and that the framework within which salvage operations are conducted encourages innovation, investment and global readiness to intervene in casualty situations.”

Bad weather made the rescue operation difficult. 13 crew, including the captain, were winched to safety by helicopters or picked up by nearby ships. The remaining 11 crew were either confirmed to have lost their lives or missing presumed dead.

container ship in 2002, while on passage from Zeebrugge to Southampton with a cargo of 3000 cars.

Car carrier disaster On 5 December 2012, RoRo car carrier BALTIC ACE - 148 m, 7787 tonnes dwt - was in collision with the container ship CORVUS J in the southern North Sea while underway from Zeebrugge, Belgium to Finland, carrying a cargo of more than 1000 cars. The incident took place some 40 kilometres off the Dutch coast south east of Rotterdam.

After the collision, BALTIC ACE began taking on water, capsized and sank within 15 minutes. CORVUS J was severely damaged and her bulbous bow was bent but she was not in danger of sinking and joined the search for survivors.

Svitzer Salvage is to remove the vessel's bunker fuel and has chartered the VOS SATISFACTION for dive support and the ITC MELTEMI for standby and anchoring duties.

The incident echoes the sinking of the car carrier, TRICOLOR, which sank off France following a collision with a 1

The wreck of the TRICOLOR was a major hazard to navigation and was removed by a consortium of Smit, Scaldis, URS and Multraship which conducted a lengthy operation.

Also in the North Sea, one man died and 11 crew members were winched from the standby vessel VOS SAILOR after it was damaged 120 miles off Aberdeen in bad weather. The vessel was towed to safety.

ISU NEWS Bunker Removal Clause

Journalists’ lunch

The ISU has formally responded to marine property and liability insurance interests on the proposed Bunker Removal Clause and has raised concerns.

The International Salvage Union held its annual lunch for marine journalists at London’s RAC Club. The popular event was well-attended by journalists representing a mix of shipping titles.

The Clause is an agreement between marine property and liability insurance interests and not with the salvage contractor.

ISU President, Andreas Tsavliris, used the occasion to outline the issues of concern to the salvage industry such as: unfair criminalisation of salvors, the high cost of removing wrecks, environmental salvage and ideas for modifications to the Special Compensation P &I Club Clause (SCOPIC).

However, it is intended to be incorporated into Lloyd’s Open Form contracts and imposes a new regime on the salvage contractor with regard to the pollution risks in the handling of a casualty’s bunker fuel.

ISU’s concerns are with the changes to the assessment of salvage awards and the impact on operational decisions that the Clause would require.

After the lunch, Michael Grey, raised a toast of thanks to Mike Lacey for his work with media over his many years with the ISU and Peter Mackay thanked ISU for its hospitality on behalf of the guests.

ISU President, Andreas Tsavliris, welcomes marine journalists to lunch flanked by, left, Keith Bentley of Lloyd's List Intelligence and, right, Michael Grey.

Annual General Meeting Photo competition ISU will again be mounting its annual photograph competition to select the best picture taken by any full member’s employee during the course of a salvage operation in 2012.

A prize of US $300 is awarded to the winning entry which is chosen by a sub-committee of the ISU Executive Committee. All pictures submitted for publication in Salvage World are automatically entered but members are encouraged to send in additional, worthy photographs.

The ISU Executive Committee has decided to conduct the formal business of its Annual General Meeting in one day instead of the traditional one and half days. The new approach will be adopted for the 2013 meeting which will be in

Hong Kong on 24 October. The General Meeting will be preceded by an Executive Committee meeting on 23 October at the same venue and there will be a gala dinner and social programme. Full details will be announced in Q1 2013.

Salvage and Wreck Conference

Entries must be emailed to admin@gemcomms.com and should include a brief caption and the name of the photographer. Do not send multiple large file attachments which cause email difficulty – send entries as single attachments or small batches.

The deadline is 01 March 2013 and the winner will be announced at the Associate Members’ Day on 20 March 2013.

Pollution prevention ISU will soon be conducting its annual survey of the pollution prevention efforts of its members. Members are requested to assist with provision of the relevant data when the survey form is issued in the New Year.

ISU Representitives: John Halfweeg (far left, Andreas Tsavliris (fourth from left), Mark Hoddinott (fifth from left)

ISU was well-represented at the Informa Salvage and Wreck Removal Conference held in London 12-13 December.

ISU President, Andreas Tsavliris, and Executive Committee member, John Halfweeg and General Manager, Mark Hoddinott, joined the panel session and 2

Mr Halfweeg gave a salvor’s perspective on wreck removal. Mark Hoddinott examined the cost of tendering for wreck removal contracts and ISU Legal Adviser Rob Wallis reported on the issue of environmental salvage.

Tsavliris global round up TSAVLIRIS’ salvage tug MEGAS ALEXANDROS assisted the bulker DELOS RANGER laden with 37,000 tonnes of grain when she was disabled and requiring a tow from the Suez Gulf, Egypt, to Aqaba in Jordan.

The convoy encountered bad weather and strong currents before the casualty was safely redelivered.

In late September, the general cargo vessel, EVERTON – 8,874 tonnes dwt – fully laden with containerised cargo was immobilised and drifting in the Mozambique channel following an engine room fire which spread to the accommodation block (see pictures, right).

Tsavliris sent the guard utility vessel FLEUR DU CAP to standby the casualty while the tug TERAS HYDRA made her way from Durban.

A six person salvage team flew to Beira in Mozambique and proceeded to the casualty on a chartered fishing vessel.

Once aboard, the team reinstated some

electrical power. On its arrival the TERAS HYDRA connected and the convoy proceeded to Beira but due to congestion in the port then carried on to Durban with a skeleton salvage crew aboard. Poor conditions prevented entry to harbour for several days before the EVERTON was redelivered safely to the owners on 29 October.

During the same month, Tsavliris was contracted to provide services to the product tanker LIQUID SILVER, carrying 13,000 tonnes of cane molasses, which was disabled 150 nautical miles off Shanghai following main engine failure.

The salvage tug MEIJI MARU was chartered from Japan but unable to proceed due to Typhoon Papiroon. A second tug, the NEW DAE RYUK was therefore fixed from South Korea but was also forced to shelter due to adverse weather.

Some days later both tugs continued to the LIQUID SILVER and the NEW DAE RYUK connected and took her under tow to Kunsan, South Korea where she was redelivered to her owners.

The fire-damaged superstructure of the EVERTON off Mozambique

Resolve's tropical wreck removal RESOLVE Salvage & Fire has completed the removal of the grounded 202 foot freighter JIREH from Mona Island which lies 35 miles off the western coast of Puerto Rico and is a 22 square-mile ecological reserve managed and protected by Puerto Rico’s Department of Natural and Environmental Resources.

The JIREH ran aground in June 2012 with 84 passengers and crew onboard.

The cause of the grounding remains unknown. Attempts to locate the captain and owner failed and so the US Coast Guard (USCG) selected RESOLVE to undertake pollution prevention.

RESOLVE removed more than 5,000 gallons of oil and water mix and 600 tons of oiled cargo from the casualty before removing sections of the ship to reduce the weight in preparation for refloating.

However the authorities determined that the poor condition of the vessel meant that it should not be refloated and the

remaining hull was cut into sections that were removed and transported to a recycling facility for final disposal.

Environmental work has been undertaken to repair the coral at the site.

this vessel and prevent it from further

The operation was funded by the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund (OSLTF), which receives contributions through a per barrel tax paid by oil companies as well as fines levied against companies who violate the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 and

impacting the environment.”

other related laws.

The USCG praised the RESOLVE team saying they worked “diligently, rapidly and safely to complete the removal of

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MEMBERS’ NEWS New member ISU is pleased to welcome the UK’s James Fisher & Sons plc as full members.

Contact details: PO Box 4 Barrow-in-Furness LA14 1HR United Kingdom Tel: 01229 615599 Fax: 01229 833037 e-mail: a.todd@james-fisher.co.uk Spanopoulos operation Spanopoulos Group’s tug, CHRISTOS XXIV was mobilized to Huelva, Spain, to undertake the tow of a floating dock to the port of Jorf Lasfar in Morocco which had developed a heavy list due to inappropriate loading of the floating dock. Several attempts to make for a sheltered port in Morocco failed because of bad weather and it was decided to seek shelter at the Spanish port of Cadiz.

The delicate tow with the partially sunken floating dock was ultimately successfully and she was redelivered to her owners.

comprehensive inventory of state of the art, fast response fire fighting systems, inert gas generators, nitrogen generators, high capacity de-watering pumps, ship-to-ship lightering systems, threedimensional sonar, ROVs, and diving systems. The equipment is packaged so it can be rapidly transported by air, land or sea.

ITC started in 1973 and since 2003 has been a wholly owned subsidiary in the Tschudi Group which has family traditions in shipping dating to 1883. Tschudi said that the name change emphasises the Group’s continued commitment to the “ITC” business and cements it in the Group.

Also available is a substantial heavy lift and wreck removal capacity, coupled with an extensive array of salvage vessels and salvage support equipment.

There has been no change in the “ITC” team which will continue to provide the same services. However, Tschudi indicated that in future, Tschudi Offshore & Towage will play an increasingly important part in supporting the Group’s activities with particular emphasis on the northern regions, the Baltic and Russia.

Kevin Teichman, Vice President of T&T Marine Inc. said he was proud to have this team fully under the Teichman umbrella: “It has been my family’s pleasure to have worked with the Bisso family, our longtime friends, growing T&T BISSO from a small, local firm into a respected, world class entity. My father was proud of what we built together with the Bissos and I look forward to the continued growth of the company as T&T Salvage.”

BISSO MARINE CEO, Beau Bisso added: “I view the acquisition of T&T BISSO, LLC as a strategic move for T&T, giving the Teichman’s seamless control over the worldwide services thus providing more efficiency during both emergency and non-emergency response operations. As BISSO MARINE intensifies its focus on serving the offshore energy sector, it will always be there to support T&T.” Great Offshore

T&T Bisso T&T Salvage, LLC is the new name of T&T BISSO. It follows the Teichman Group’s acquisition of BISSO MARINE’s 50% share of T&T BISSO, LLC. The acquisition brings the renamed company fully under the umbrella of the Teichman Group of companies. At the same time the Group’s operation based in Singapore will be renamed T&T Salvage Asia, Pte Ltd. T&T Salvage will be part of a Group focused on the emergency needs of the maritime and energy industries operating an extensive response network worldwide. The Teichman Group owns and maintains around the world a

Indian ISU member, Great Offshore Salvage Services Limited has changed its name to GOL SALVAGE SERVICES LIMITED (GO SALVAGE).

Contact details: Phone: +91 9819328022,

+91 22 66352222.

Captain Sandeep Kalia Energy House, 81 Dr. D.N. Road, Mumbai - 400001 Email: gosalvage@goloffshore.com,

sandeep_kalia@goloffshore.com, Web: www.goloffshore.com/golsalvage ITC name change From 01 January 2013, ISU member International Transport Contractors (ITC) will continue its business activities under the name, Tschudi Offshore & Towage.

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The new website: www.tschudioffshoretowage.com has contact details and new email addresses will be circulated in due course.

Titan Australia TITAN Salvage has established a new 20,000 square foot office and equipment depot in Cairns, Australia in response to changing market conditions and increased commercial vessel traffic in the Great Barrier Reef.

Titan says it will enhance the company’s marine salvage, wreck removal and emergency response capabilities in the Pacific Southeast.

Titan has also created the new subsidiary, TITAN Maritime (Australia) Pty. Ltd., which has already performed successful salvage and response services in the area including the drifting MV INTEGRITY and the sunken TYCOON. In its new location, the TITAN team will work closely with the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) and salvage partner Ian Perrott, of Perrott Salvage.

Tsavliris In December, on the occasion of the 30th Anniversary of the Piraeus Port Captain’s Club, Mr Nicolas A Tsavliris was made an honorary member of the Club for services rendered to the shipping community and the Piraeus Port Captain’s Club.

The award took place at an event at the Club’s headquarters in Piraeus to mark the anniversary.

one of four of Crowley’s high-bollard, ocean class tugboats, OCEAN WAVE, which, in its debut operation, pulled the grounded containership free and towed it into Havana (see picture below).

Cuban job Cuban ISU member Antillana de Salvamento coordinated the emergency response to the fully loaded container vessel HANSA BERLIN that grounded on northern Cuban shores during Tropical Storm Isaac.

The project, led by Antillana de Salvamento’s managing director Captain Chamizo, required a timely response from Antillana and several ISU members working together.

After the crew were airlifted to safety by helicopter, Antillana called on fellow ISU member, TITAN Salvage, to assist with oil removal, cargo lightering and refloating of the vessel. TITAN’s salvage master was on scene in Cuba in less than 24 hours.

Other key team members included Crowley’s solutions group, the company’s Houston-based Project Management Organization, which manages the ocean class vessels, and its government services team.

Titan sub-contracted additional specialized assets and personnel from ISU member T&T Marine to assist with the refloat of the stricken container ship.

And Marine Response Alliance (MRA) member Marine Pollution Control (MPC) was also engaged to assist in the oil removal operation. TITAN and its parent, Crowley, and Marine Pollution Control are founders and partners of the MRA. The operation was supported by the first

Swire salvage fights chemical fire The BUNGA ALPINIA, a 38,000 dwt chemical tanker, suffered an explosion while loading a cargo of methanol in Labuan, Malaysia.

The explosion caused severe structural failure to the main deck and the affected cargo tanks and resulted in an intense fire on board which burnt throughout the cargo areas and parts of the accommodation and bridge.

T&T Bisso and Swire Salvage were appointed by the owners as co-salvors and a LOF contract was agreed with SCOPIC invoked.

The salvors used the PACIFIC HAWK, a PSV with fifi capability, and additional chartered firefighting tugs to tackle the blaze.

With the fire under control, the salvors modeled the ship and then stabilized her before undertaking the removal of

Svitzer groundings

the heavy fuel oil, diesel, chemicals and other marine pollutants that remained on board. Some 12,000 cubic metres of methanol that also remained on board in numerous cargo tanks was also removed.

To discharge the methanol cargo safely the salvors had to arrange for a nitrogen generator to ensure all tanks were inert prior to the ship-to-ship

transfer to another chemical tanker that was chartered specially to assist with the operation. Specialized pumping equipment was also flown in to assist with the discharge of the methanol.

The required services were all completed under the LOF and the vessel was redelivered safely to the owners five and a half weeks after the incident.

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In September two general cargo ships, CELIA - 6264 grt - and BSLE SUNRISE - 5988 grt - ran aground near the Sidi Saler Beach in Valencia, Spain. The groundings occurred around the same time after both vessels drifted from their anchorage in a violent rainstorm with wind gusting to 77 km/h. No crew members were injured during this incident.

Svitzer Salvage was appointed to refloat both vessels and commenced the operation in close cooperation with local authorities and subcontractors. Several small dredging vessels were sourced locally and used to dredge a trench towards open sea. With bathymetrical survey equipment the progress of the dredging was constantly monitored.

During periods of increasingly poor weather, tugs were used to prevent both ships from further damage and from moving higher up the beach.

After days of round-the-clock dredging, both ships were successfully refloated and were towed to the Port of Valencia for further inspection.

The location close to the city of Valencia meant the grounded ships and salvage operation attracted large numbers of onlookers.

ASSOCIATES’ NEWS Associate Members’ Day ISU will be holding its annual Associate Members’ Day on 20 March 2013 at the Institute of Directors on London’s Pall Mall. The event will follow the theme of “Major Wreck Removal.” A high quality programme of speakers is already lined up, including contractors, lawyers and national authorities. The following day will see the bi-annual meeting of the cadre of Special Casualty Representatives. Further details to be published in the New Year.

Australian Maritime Safety Agency The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) is responsible for providing emergency towage capability around the Australian coastline. To ensure the availability of suitable vessels for its Emergency Towage Vessel (ETV) Programme, AMSA has three categories of response capability and associated contracts with suppliers:

Level 1 enables the provision of a

dedicated ETV (currently the PACIFIC RESPONDER based in Cairns) to supply emergency towage response from Torres Strait in the north to the Great Barrier Reef boundary in the south. The contract also provides for the provision of maintenance of navigation aids in the area.

Level 2 requires that arrangements

are in place for suitably equipped ETVs to respond at short notice to directions from AMSA to perform first strike emergency towage capability in the event of shipping incidents or casualties. An ETV provider in each Region is contracted to make suitable ETVs available.

Level 3 enables the provision of

suitable vessels on an “as needs” or opportunity basis, using AMSA's powers of intervention to requisition these assets.

The current Level 2 contracts will expire in June 2013. The Australian authorities’ preference is that commercial arrangements are reached without AMSA taking intervention action. Therefore AMSA has often placed ETVs on “standby” in preparation for potential response but with operational engagement actually occurring under commercial arrangements.

The continued provision of Level 2 capability will significantly mitigate pollution risk from a casualty vessel. The assessed risk has increased since the inception of the ETV program in 2006 and as a

result AMSA has proposed two additional regions on the Australian coastline. These regions are South Western Australia and North Central Queensland.

The Request for Tender has been released on AusTender and will close on 8 February 2013. For further information: http://www. amsa.gov.au/ The ABR Company ITS 2014 will take place in Hamburg instead of Panama because the Panamanian Presidential Elections scheduled to take place in early May 2014 mean the venue originally planned to host the event cannot be secured.

The ABR Company chairman, Allan Brunton-Reed, explained: “Panama has only the one convention centre and this will be used in its entirety for the elections. As a result, the Convention Centre could not give us a guarantee on the dates we had been allocated.

"Clearly, this is going to disappoint those who were looking forward to going to Panama, and we apologise sincerely for that. We were therefore left no choice other than to find a suitable alternative venue at very short notice. After much searching, it has been decided we should return to Hamburg after an absence of 35 years.”

The venue for ITS 2014 will now be the CCH Congress Contrum and will run from 16-20 June 2014.

ABR also notes that its “Tugnology” event will take place in London on 14 and 15 May 2013 at the Britannia International Hotel.

Delegates booking before 31 January 2013 will be eligible for the Early Bird Registration discount, and receive 10 per cent off the standard fee. Visit www. tugandosv.com for more information on both events and how to register as an exhibitor or delegate.

Intercargo Intercargo, representing the bulk shipping industry, has announced the appointment of John Platsidakis as Chairman. Mr Platsidakis is currently Managing Director of Piraeus-based Anangel Maritime Services Inc., a function that he will continue to perform alongside his role as Intercargo Chairman.

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InterManager InterManager, the trade association for inhouse and third party ship managers, has appointed Gerardo Borromeo as its new President. He succeeds Alastair Evitt, who has completed his two-year term of office.

Gerardo Borromeo is Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Philippine Transmarine Carriers, Inc. (PTC), one of the largest crew management companies in the Philippines, deploying more than 33,000 seafarers annually.

Moore Stephens Vessel operating costs are expected to rise by 3.0 per cent in both 2012 and 2013 according to a new survey by accountant and shipping consultant Moore Stephens.

Lube expenditure and crew costs are the categories most likely to produce the highest levels of increase.

The survey is based on responses from key players in the international shipping industry, predominantly shipowners and managers in Europe and Asia. As was the case twelve months ago, those responses identified lubricants as the cost category likely to increase most significantly – by 2.9 and 2.8 per cent in 2012 and 2013 respectively.

Crew wages, meanwhile, are expected to increase by 2.3 per cent in 2012 and by 2.4 per cent in 2013, with other crew costs thought likely to increase 2.1 per cent for both years under review.

Chapman Freeborn Chapman Freeborn has appointed Alexey Zuev as commercial director in its Moscow office, responsible for expanding the air chartering specialist’s activities in Russia and the former Soviet states. He is joined by Dimitri Kourenkov who has been appointed General Manager in the Moscow office. Both men have substantial experience of the aviation sector.

The Group also announced the expansion of its activities in South America with the establishment of commercial representation in Buenos Aires. The new branch will be headed by Nicolas Caleri.

Ocean Breeze update

Mike Lacey retires One of the ISU’s most longstanding servants, Mike Lacey, has retired from his role as ISU Secretary General.

He will continue to be active in the industry as a consultant.

Mike served at sea for much of the 1960s and after he gained his Master’s Certificate he joined law firm, Constant & Constant in 1969.

The firm acted for most of the major salvage companies and by 10.30am on his first morning with the firm, Mike was in a LOF Arbitration.

Mike gradually did more and more salvage work as the marine consultant and in 1978 he went with Jim Horrocks to the new firm of Horrocks & Co. Mr Horrocks had been Legal Adviser to ISU and Mike started doing more and more ISU work on his behalf.

In 1981 Mike was asked to join United Towing by its owner, the then President of ISU, Tony Wilbraham. After three months he was Managing Director and three months after that he was deploying United tugs to the Falklands war zone.

Bad weather with strong winds and heavy swells caused the bulk carrier OCEAN BREEZE - 30,067 grt and built in 2006 - to be driven onto the beach off San Antonio, Chile in August 2012. She was en route from Africa with 24 crew members and laden with 36,000 tons of grain.

Ultratug promptly responded to the casualty, while a Nippon Salvage team rapidly flew from Japan to the site. In the face of difficult weather and sea conditions, the joint salvage team carried out an inspection of the casualty. It was considered that jettisoning approximately 5,000 tonnes of cargo would mean a good chance of refloating the vessel.

However the authorities would not allow the cargo to be dumped, insisting that the priority should be the removal of fuel and that the cargo should be discharged by lightering using every possible means.

The vessel was lying parallel to the beach and constantly battered by continuous heavy swells that could affect its longitudinal strength. The vessel

Mike spent the next 10 years running United Towing during which time he served on the ISU Executive Committee for eight years and was vice President from 1990 – 1992. He then left United and returned to the law.

required close monitoring by the salvors in order that she should not break up and spill pollutants.

In spite of the continuing heavy swell, the salvors attempted to bring in lightering vessels in the surf zone. Conditions meant that often only way to board the vessel was by helicopter. In the meantime, salvors successfully removed nearly 1000 tonnes of fuel, lightered some 2,000 tonnes of cargo and kept the remaining pollutants contained in a vessel preventing environmental pollution.

Unfortunately, given the unceasing bad weather and expected time and expense to complete the salvage operation, the vessel was declared as a constructive total loss, ending the salvage operation.

Wreck removal work will be conducted by Titan Salvage and T&T Salvage.

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In due course Mike became a special advisor to ISU and then Secretary General in 2006. In his time with ISU Mike has been at the centre of: drafting Lloyd’s Standard Form of Salvage Agreement (LOF), 1980, 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2011; negotiating the 1989 Salvage Convention; negotiating the Special Compensation P&I Club Clause – SCOPIC; drafting the original BIMCO TOWCON and TOWHIRE contracts and their recent revisions.

Drafting the original and revised BIMCO WRECKFIXED, WRECKSTAGE and WRECKHIRE contracts.

Throughout, Mike has been supported by Liz to whom he has been married for 47 years and their three sons, all of whom have nautical careers - two are superyacht skippers.

At the 2012 AGM, ISU President, Andreas Tsavliris, paid tribute to Mike and thanked him for his great contribution to the ISU and salvage industry.

International Monitor Prestige

Malacca Straits

The trial has started in Spain of the Master and others connected with the loss of the tanker, PRESTIGE, off northern Spain in 2002.

The Co-operative Mechanism on Safety of Navigation and Environmental Protection in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore - which involves the littoral states of Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia - has agreed to improve navigational safety in the Malacca and Singapore Straits where there are some 70,000 vessel transits annually. The outcome will better training, better hydrographic surveying and production of better charts.

The incident, and the subsequent criminal action, have become a cause celebrè highlighting the issues of places of refuge and the criminalisation of seafarers.

The damaged PRESTIGE was not allowed a place of refuge in Spain and was subsequently towed out into the Atlantic where she broke up, sank and spilled some 60,000 tonnes of oil some of which came ashore in both Spain and France.

India, one of the observer nations present at the meeting, offered the use of a survey vessel to conduct appropriate hydrographic surveys in the area. Other initiatives agreed include: further removal of wrecks in the region; the establishment of a tide, current and wind measurement system as well as ongoing projects for the replacement and maintenance of aids to navigation and the provision of emergency towing vessels.

The trial is expected to last many months.

The master, Captain Mangouras, is supported by many seafarers who say he acted properly and the authorities have themselves to blame for the pollution, because they would not allow the vessel into a place of refuge.

London Gateway Work on the new container terminal London Gateway continues with a scheduled opening in Q3 2013. It is situated on the north bank of the river Thames on the former Shell Haven refinery site and will be the UK’s first 21st Century major deep-sea container port and Europe’s largest logistics park.

Developers DP World say that the location, and new operational systems to ensure ships load and unload as fast as possible, make London Gateway a world class asset for the UK. It will add 3.5million TEU to the UK’s port capacity meeting expected demand for extra capacity in the UK. In addition to a major deep sea port, London Gateway is integrated with Europe’s largest logistics park. Key features:

European Maritime Safety Agency EMSA has strengthened its network of stand-by oil spill response vessels by finalising tenders for the Bay of Biscay, South Atlantic Coast and Central Mediterranean Sea. In total, EMSA has contracted three bunker tankers, located in Ferrol (Spain), Sines (Portugal) and Malta.

The tankers contracted for the South Atlantic and Central Mediterranean replace previous arrangements. The vessel contracted for the Bay of Biscay will add a new response capacity to an area that has suffered some of the worst spills in Europe.

• 2.7 kilometre-long River Thames frontage with six berths and a good tidal acess window for deep drafted vessels.

All the vessels will be specially equipped for oil spill recovery and are expected to enter into operational service during the first half of 2013. EMSA said it was pleased to provide oil spill response for the Bay of Biscay as this was one of the main target areas in previous years.

• 24 cranes

Comité Maritime International

• Employment - over 12,000 new jobs are expected to be created by the development of the new terminal.

Stuart Hetherington has been appointed as President of the Comité Maritime International. It is the influential non-

• Size - a 1,500 acre disused brownfield site, which will accommodate a mixture of commercial and logistics uses.

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governmental not-for-profit international organization established in 1897 to contribute “by all appropriate means and activities to the unification of maritime law in all its aspects”.

The CMI holds a Conference every three to four years at which the work of its International Working Groups and/or International Sub-Committees is debated and, if appropriate, concluded with a resolution at the plenary session at the end of the Conference. Mr Hetherington practices law in Syndey, Australia.

LNG through the ice The OB RIVER has become the first liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier to make the passage from Norway to Japan across the Arctic.

The route requires the assistance of ice breakers but reduces the journey time by some 20 days. Analysts say that retreating ice in the Arctic, increasing shipping costs and changed patterns of international energy supply (such as the development of a spot market for LNG) mean the Arctic is likely to see growth in traffic.

Hurricane Sandy

Donjon tug ploughing up the Hudson River in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy . Note the submerged Manhattan passenger terminal piers at the top of the picture.

Large parts of the eastern seaboard of the United States were battered

by Hurricane Sandy in late October.

The strong winds combined with high tides to create a major storm surge causing substantial damage and disruption. Large parts of New York’s lower Manhatten were flooded.

ISU member, Donjon Marine Co. Inc., mobilized from its base in Port Newark, New Jersey, to provide an emergency pumping capability in response to the devastation caused by the hurricane.

Donjon holds the US Navy Salvage and Related Services contract for the North Atlantic zone and the US Navy provided support to the stricken region following a request by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Donjon and its equipment was essential to the US Navy response.

It provided over 80,000 gallons per minute of pumping capability within 36 hours of the initial call and deployed a team of over 50 salvage personnel to place and operate the pumping and support equipment.

and hurricanes on the US Gulf Coast.

John Witte, Jr., executive vice president of Donjon, said: “In spite of difficult conditions at home, the Donjon team mobilized and worked tirelessly

throughout the emergency period. All the Donjon staff and subcontractors were a credit to themselves, Donjon and the communities they helped.”

The Donjon team worked alongside many other responders from the US Army Corps of Engineers, US Navy, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the New York City police and fire departments, as well as representatives of various New York City transport organisations.

It again showed how vital salvors are in the response to natural disasters. ISU members have a proud track record of helping in recent years following earthquakes in Chile, Haiti and Japan

Passenger safety Work continues to prepare the wreck of the COSTA CONCORDIA for refloating.

The job will be the most complex and costly operation of its kind.

32 people lost their lives in the COSTA CONCORDIA disaster and the International Maritime Organisation’s safety committee has now agreed that passenger safety drills prior to or immediately upon departure should be

Donjon removes the JOHN B CADDELL which grounded as a result of Hurricane Sandy

mandatory. Currently, newly embarked passengers are only required to muster for safety training within 24 hours. The regulations are expected to come into force in 2014.

Earlier this year the European Cruise Council insisted on new rules such as the bridge of vessels being out of bounds to visitors while the ship is manoeuvring or when increased vigilance is required.

Picture: Fratelli Neri.

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Giant container ship enters service The largest containership in the world has entered service. The CMA CGM MARCO POLO was built by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering in South Korea for French operator CMA-CGM. The vessel, classed by Bureau Veritas, is the first in a series of three 16,000 teu vessels which will be named after great explorers.

The CGM MARCO POLO is 396 metres long and 54 metres wide with a draft of 16 metres. It has an electronically controlled engine allowing for significantly reduced consumption of fuel and lubricants. A twisted leading edge rudder improves the hydrodynamics of the vessel by optimising water flow and significantly reducing energy expenditure

as well as CO2 emissions. A pre-swirl stator facilitates the alignment of water flow upstream from the propeller in order to improve productivity. These features make it possible to reduce energy consumption and atmospheric emissions by 2 - 4 per cent.

Delivery of the other two vessels in the series is expected in 2013.

MARCO POLO’s length : 396 m

Car (4m)

Semi-trucker (30m)

Pim Korver Pim Korver, who has recently died, was considered by many to be the pre-eminent maritime film maker and photographer.

During a career spanning some 50 years he made numerous productions featuring towage and salvage and its central part in Dutch maritime heritage.

His first maritime production was about the British coaster GLADONIA that ran ashore in bad weather on Maasvlakte in January 1962. Korver went to the scene on a small rescue-vessel and made a

Airbus A380 (72,72m)

Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier (261,5m)

Queen Mary II (345m)

spectacular film. He remained on board the coaster when the rescue vessel was about to return to the Hook of Holland and only jumped off at the last minute.

Another event that Korver covered early in his career was the towage of the capsized Swedish tanker THUNTANK V11. Korver was 26 years old when he went out the casualty, filmed the situation and returned to Hook of Holland ahead of the Dutch tug GELE ZEE which towed the inverted casualty into Rotterdam. The next day his film was broadcast on Dutch television.

Mr Korver had a particular association with ISU member SMIT Salvage’s predecessors.

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Salvage World is produced by the International Salvage Union. For matters relating to the publication contact: James Herbert, ISU communications advisor.

Tel: +44 1423 331 096 Email: admin@gemcomms.com For general enquiries contact: ISU, 2nd Floor St.Clare House, 30-33 Minories, London EC3N 1BP Tel: +44 20 3179 9222/3 Email: ISU@marine-salvage.com