The President’s Message

BY Lindsay Malen-Habib

President ASA

American Salvage Association

Welcome to the Winter edition of Soundings Magazine and my last issue as your American Salvage Association President. On behalf of the American Salvage Association, we were so glad to receive over 60 members in person and over 30 industry professionals virtually to our first in person AGM in two years in conjunction with the Workboat Show in New Orleans, LA. A special thank you to the USCG and USCG Admiral Timme for his attendance and presentation that was so well received. This issue of Soundings is one of our best and I am so thankful to the Marketing and Communications Committee and their Chair, Mrs. Rebecca Garcia-Malone, for their hard work on Soundings as well as boosting our social media. Follow the ASA on Facebook and LinkedIn and don’t forget to share your stories with the ASA so we can promote our members.

2021 was one for the books but we ended this year strong at the ASA as did our members. The ASA Executive Committee just finished their second Strategic Planning session and are proud to present our members with updated Bylaws as well as a larger more inclusive Executive Committee consisting of three corporate Associate members. We have been able to provide our members this year with three virtual quarterly meetings and just ran our second Quality Partnership meeting virtually on November 15th with USCG, USCG SERT, NOAA, and SUPSALV. Although this year has been challenging, we are resilient and continue to respond here in the US and globally.

In this issue of Soundings, you will read various articles from members such as the State of the Salvage industry, featuring Chile; Salvage and Applying the OODA loop by Rik Van Hemmen and Hannah Van Hemmen; as well as a case study of the Salvage of the Tug the PRO ASSIST by Salvage Master Gordon Olson, GCO Logistics, inclusive of his use of other ASA member Cashman Equipment’s barges. In addition, we are proud to present an article written by USCG SERT Lt. Park Suski on this year’s Hurricane responses in the Gulf. These articles display our members working under the most challenging conditions from weather, location, time of year-- all under a pandemic regime. Please also see our AGM recap and a special thank you to IUMI for sharing their statistics for 2021 with us as well.

It has been a true honor to sit as the first female President of the American Salvage Association and to serve our membership these past two years. I thank my leadership, Executive Committee, and ASA staff for all their support during these challenging times. A special thank you to the senior leadership at Resolve Marine for supporting my endeavors as ASA President and I look forward to sitting as immediate past President. Please welcome Mr. Mike Jarvis as the new ASA President, Nadja Knoulton, Vice President, and Joseph Farrell 3rd as Secretary Treasurer.

Stay safe, and stay the course,