Salvage News

At a recent seminar in London organized by the International Underwriting Association of London (IUA) and the Association of Average Adjusters (AAA), participants heard how ignoring or not fully understanding the concept of General Average (GA) when concluding charter-party contracts for offshore services could cause problems in the event of an incident or accident.Michiel Starmans, a Fellow of the AAA and Director Legal Department of the Spliethoff Group and Alf Inge Johannessen…

The owner and operator of the cargo ship that struck Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge in March, killing six people, have agreed to pay $102 million to the federal government, the U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday.The department in September filed a civil claim seeking $103 million from two Singaporean companies, Grace Ocean Private Limited and Synergy Marine Private Limited. The claim was intended to recoup the money the U.S. government spent responding to the disaster…

Speed will be of the essence as salvage crews attempt to stop fuel leaking from the sunken New Zealand naval ship off the coast of Samoa.The HMNZS Manawanui ran aground last weekend on a reef about one nautical mile off the south coast of Upolu, Samoa’s most populated island. The specialist dive and hydrographic vessel was on its third deployment, conducting a reef survey, when it caught fire and sank.The ship has come to rest at a depth of up to 150 metres, which means it may be relatively undisturbed even during storms.

A barge that broke free on the Tennessee River near Loudon, Tenn. has been recovered and secured, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.The breakaway was caused by high water stemming from Hurricane Helene.The Coast Guard said it is cautioning mariners to monitor river levels and proceed with caution when transiting the Tennessee River as the high water situation persists.Helene slammed into the Florida Panhandle as a major hurricane on September. 26, and its winds, rain and storm surge killed over 100 people across the U.S. Southeast and Midwest.

At least four people have been reported dead following the sinking of an oil barge operated by a contractor of Venezuela's state-run energy company PDVSA at the country's Lake Maracaibo, according to a report of the accident on Thursday and sources.Another 19 people had been successfully rescued by Thursday morning at the accident site, the report added.Incidents involving barges that carry Venezuelan oil and fuel between domestic ports and to the Caribbean have become frequent.

Cleanup efforts are underway after a 105-foot yacht caught fire, capsized and spilled oil in Marina del Rey, Calif., the U.S. Coast Guard said.The motor yacht The Admiral reportedly went up in flames around 8:30 p.m., Wednesday, and a crew from Los Angeles County Fire Department was able to extinguish the fire. No injuries were reported.By Thursday morning, the yacht was discovered to be discharging red-dye diesel. The vessel’s fuel capacity is said to be 6,000 gallons.A Unified Command including members of the Coast Guard…

The operation has started to tow a Greek-registered oil tanker stranded in the Red Sea after an attack by Houthi militants last month, a shipping source told Reuters on Saturday.Towing the 900-foot (274.2-metre) MV Sounion to safety is the first step in a risky operation to salvage the vessel that caught fire after it was repeatedly attacked on Aug. 21.The second step is the transfer of its cargo of about 1 million barrels of crude oil. Saudi Arabia, a key player in the region…

The outcome of over a year’s consultation with underwriters, owners, Lloyd’s and other interested parties including P&I Clubs, brokers and salvors is a new clause for incorporation in marine hull policies. The shipping community has recognized the necessity of maintaining Lloyd’s Open Form (LOF) as a contract with pre-agreed terms that can be easily used in the event of an emergency, said the Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA) and the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS). The…

Efren Dominico has been a fisherman in the Bay of Manila in the Philippines for 43 years and survived countless storms, but nothing prepared him for the day when an oil tanker sank off the coast in July and cut him off from his livelihood.The motor tanker Terranova capsized and sank off the tow of Limay, on the western side of Manila Bay, carrying 1.4 million litres of oil, the largest oil spill in the country since 2006.Days later, two more fuel tankers sank off the coast of a neighbouring town…

Experts will this week resume a risky operation to salvage the Sounion tanker which was attacked by Yemen's Houthis in the Red Sea last month and still holds about one million barrels of crude oil, maritime sources said on Thursday.The towing of the Greek-registered vessel - which was struck, lost power and caught fire on Aug. 21 - was paused after it was deemed unsafe by the companies initially involved in the project.Officials have said the towing operation will be particularly delicate…

The U.S. government signaled in a court filing on Wednesday for the first time that it may file a claim against the owner of the ship that caused the March collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.U.S. Justice Department attorney Laine Goodhue submitted a letter, opens new tab notifying U.S. District Judge James Bredar that the government is among the "claimants and prospective claimants” that have negotiated with the registered owner of the ship Grace Ocean and its…

Private companies involved in salvaging the Sounion tanker, which was attacked by Yemen's Houthis in the Red Sea, are exploring other options after the towing operation was deemed unsafe, the European Union's naval mission said on Tuesday.The Sounion, which was struck on Aug. 21 and which the Houthis and maritime sources have said has been rigged with explosives, is laden with about one million barrels of crude oil and still on fire.The EU's naval force Aspides has said it will…

A salvage operation to recover a Greek registered oil tanker stranded in the Red Sea after an attack by Houthi militants is expected to start in the coming days, two sources with knowledge of the matter said on Friday.What was decided yesterday is an initial gameplan, of the operation starting in 48 hours," one of the sources said. A second source said the operation was likely to be complex, since Houthis had rigged the vessel with explosives.At stake is the safe removal of a…

Yemen's Houthi group has agreed to allow tugboats and rescue ships to reach a damaged crude oil tanker in the Red Sea, Iran's mission to the United Nations said on Wednesday, after the Iran-aligned militants attacked the Greek-flagged vessel last week.The Sounion tanker is carrying 150,000 tonnes, or 1 million barrels, of crude oil and poses an environmental hazard, shipping officials said. Any spill has the potential to be among the largest from a ship in recorded history."Several countries have reached out to ask Ansarullah (the Houthis)…

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group has agreed to a temporary truce to allow tugboats and rescue ships to reach the damaged Greek-flagged crude oil tanker Sounion in the Red Sea, Iran's mission to the United Nations in New York said on Wednesday."Several countries have reached out to ask Ansarullah (the Houthis), requesting a temporary truce for the entry of tugboats and rescue ships into the incident area," Iran's U.N. mission said. "In consideration of humanitarian and environmental concerns…

“The enormity of this disaster is hard to imagine without seeing it in person…It may sound dramatic but given the wreckage field created by the collapsed bridge, the environment divers are working in, and the dangers posed to them, is like cleaning the site of 9/11 with blinders on.” - Rick Benoit, Emergency Management specialist at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) North Atlantic Division (NAD), from USACE news report.Col. Estee Pinchasin is commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Baltimore District.

An ancient Roman relic from the almost 2,300-year-old naval battle in which Rome defeated its archenemy Carthage has been recovered from waters off western Sicily, regional authorities said on Friday.The 3rd-century B.C.

Search and rescue for missing persons is always challenging for the specialist recovery teams involved, regardless of the environment they’re working in.But the teams looking for the missing aboard the Bayesian yacht which sank off the coast of Sicily leaving several people dead, have faced particularly challenging conditions. Even though the boat lies in relatively shallow water of 50 meters, underwater operations are affected by numerous factors which make them the most complex of search and rescue efforts.Best practice shows that searches should be coordinated…

Italian divers have retrieved the body of British tech magnate Mike Lynch's18-year-old daughter, Hannah, who was the last person still unaccounted for after the family's luxury yacht sank this week off Sicily.Seven people, including Lynch himself, died when the 56-metre-long (184-foot) sail boat, the Bayesian, capsized during a fierce, pre-dawn storm on Monday off Porticello, near Palermo. Fifteen people survived, including Lynch's wife and the yacht's captain.Lynch's family is devastated and in shock…

A tugboat crew was recently called upon to tow in a fire-stricken trawler that had been abandoned in the Gulf of Maine.The 81-foot fishing vessel Three Girls had been adrift since August 11 when an onboard fire forced its crew to evacuate about 105 nautical miles east of Portsmouth, N.H. The U.S. Coast Guard rescued the six people that had been on board—including a captain, a NOAA observer and four crew members—but the trawler itself was left ablaze and adrift out at sea.The team at McAllister Towing's Portland Tugboat was called in to tow the burning vessel back to shore.Capt.

A Greek-flagged oil tanker carrying 150,000 tonnes of crude that was evacuated by its crew after being attacked in the Red Sea now poses an environmental hazard, the EU's Red Sea naval mission "Aspides" said on Thursday.Houthis, who control Yemen's most populous regions, said on Thursday that they attacked the Sounion oil tanker in the Red Sea, as the Iran-aligned group has been attacking ships in solidarity with Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.Sounion…

Salvors are sending a crane barge to lift a yacht that ran aground on a coral reef just off Puerto Rico's Flamenco Beach.The 72-foot sailing catamaran Obsession was reportedly traveling with four people on board from Puerto Rico to the British Virgin Islands when it struck a reef during a stop in Culebra on July 21. No injuries were reported.To remove the vessel, salvage and marine services contractor Resolve Marine has deployed its 400-ton shear-leg barge. The 164-foot-long, 54-foot-wide barge is being towed by tugboat from Baltimore and is expected to arrive to Culebra…

Efforts are ramping up to recover oil spewing from a grounded cargo vessel that's being torn apart in stormy weather off the coast of South Africa, officials said.Salvage efforts have been ongoing since the Panamanian-registered general cargo vessel Ultra Galaxy drifted onto a sand bank close to Doring Bay, about 186 miles north of Cape Town, on July 9 after the ship's crew abandoned the vessel when it started taking on water.In recent days, the wreck has been battered by severe weather and high swells…