The Capesize bulk carrier Smart that, in August 2013, broke down and went aground soon after sailing from Richards Bay, South Africa, with a full cargo of coal. She broke in three. Each of the three parts was removed by salvage contractors, an operation that was completed in 2015. Photograph: African Marine Solutions (AMSOL)

Salvage is the saving of a ship and/or her cargo from imminent danger. The danger can be the result of

• Breakdown (Machinery) especially if near the coast
• Hull fracture/damage
• Fire/Explosion
• Grounding
• Sinking
• Collision

Salvage operations are usually conducted in terms of a Lloyd’s Open Form (LOF). This means that the tug goes to the scene of the casualty with only an agreement between the tug owner and the ship owner that the operation will be conducted on a no-cure-no-pay basis, i.e. that the tug will complete the salvage operation and that the ship will be delivered safely to a “safe haven”. Otherwise, the tug will receive no pay.

Salvage may involve

• Refloating a ship that has gone aground
• Pumping water from a ship that has suffered an ingress of water
• Extinguishing a fire
• Keeping a ship afloat when otherwise she would have sunk
• Clearing a wreck from a harbour
• Removing a wreck from the coast
• Reducing a wreck when it is impossible or too costly to remove the wreck
• Cargo Recovery (This sometimes needs to be done quickly because the cargo is toxic or will pollute the coastline.)
• Removal of bunkers or toxic/pollutant cargo from a damaged ship

NB : A ship that has broken down and not in immediate danger may request to be towed to a safe haven on a daily hire basis (e.g. $25000 per day) rather than in terms of a LOF.

If the casualty appears to be beyond salvage (she has sunk, is breaking up, or burning out) or the operation will be lengthy, the salvage operator may change the contract from LOF to SCOPIC.  All costs plus a reasonable profit are paid to the salvage operator by the casualty’s insurers (P&I Club – This will be discussed in more detail in Grade 12.).

The salvage operator (or a new contractor) may be requested to remain on site to help reduce the possibility of pollution or to remove to reduce the wreck.

When the salvage operation is over, the salvage company will submit a claim to the owner of the ship that was in distress. The owner’s insurers will probably want the claim to go to arbitration where an arbitration judge will decide whether the claim was fair, whether it should be increased or reduced. (See also the Grade 12 notes on salvage.)

The bulk carrier Kiara Satu being refloated from a beach to the west of Knysna, South Africa, by the salvage tug SA Amandla in August 2013. Photograph: African Marine Solutions (AMSOL)

Test yourself

1. Read through the following descriptions of maritime incidents. Which of them can be regarded as SALVAGE and which can be regarded as OCEAN TOWAGE.

1.1. A ship breaks down 250 nautical miles off the coast. The weather is calm and the ship is not in danger of sinking or of going aground. A tug takes the ship in tow and brings her safely to Cape Town.

1.2. A ship goes ashore near Port Elizabeth. A tug tries to tow her off the beach at high tide, but the attempt fails. The tug owner decides to wait ten days until the next spring high tide; in the meantime, the ship’s bunkers and some cargo are removed, and the tug manages to pull her off the beach on the spring high tide.

1.3. A ship suffers a fire in her engineroom, two nautical miles off the KwaZulu-Natal coast, and is immobilised. A gale force onshore wind is blowing. A tug manages to connect a towing line and tows the ship to Durban.

2. Read the following extract and answer the questions set. It relates to an incident off the Eastern Cape coast in September 2015. The rig Pentagon 5000 had been under tow from Ngqura by the tug Indus. They were heading for Mauritius when the tug had difficulty making headway in the current. The towing line parted, and the rig was drifting in the current and at one stage was in danger of going ashore. The salvage tug SA Amandla was sent from Cape Town to take the rig in tow and return her to Ngqura on Algoa Bay.

After a protracted wait for a helicopter to put a salvage team aboard the drifting rig Pentagon 5000 to connect the towing line, the salvage tug SA Amandla took the rig in tow off the southern coast, and headed for Algoa Bay. The line parted, was reconnected and the difficult tow continued.

At the time of writing, it was not clear whether Ngqura would accept the rig as two others are already in port, and, with a third one alongside, the harbour tugs would be stretched if a violent wind threatened to rip the rigs from their moorings. The uncertain future of the rig might also add to the port’s reluctance to accommodate her. Like Orca, a rig now idle off Mossel Bay, she might be anchored indefinitely in Algoa Bay.

The ten-day saga highlighted several inadequacies in maritime safety, especially as underpowered tugs continue to move some large vessels along the coast, and emergency helicopter services are in short supply when needed. What if the rig had been drifting towards the coast, or worse, what if the casualty had been an abandoned tanker or another ship with full bunker tanks and drifting shoreward in wild weather – but no helicopter was available to airlift salvors aboard?

At its peril, the country continues to ignore the need for proper maritime helicopter rescue services and maritime aerial patrols, despite increasing numbers of ships passing the Cape. The former service is currently conducted in most cases by the National Sea Rescue Institute’s intrepid volunteer crews who risk their lives to bring injured or ill seafarers ashore by launch in all weathers. The latest medical evacuation was rendered off Port Elizabeth when the local launch brought ashore the Filipino cook from the Capesize ore carrier Spring Hydrangea, en route from India to Brazil.

The apparent downscaling of the air force comes at a time when helicopters should be on standby in all ports for rescue operations and to counter the growing menaces of poaching and drug running along the coast. If the depleted air force is not available for this essential work, or to assist with salvage operations, civilian helicopters should be contracted for 24/7 emergency standby.

2.1. What are the roles that helicopters can play in maritime activities, including during salvage operations?

2.2. Explain why the port of Ngqura may not want the rig to berth there.

2.3. What difficulty would the NSRI crew have had getting the ill cook from Spring Hydrangea? Clue : look at her route – from India to Brazil – to decide whether she was laden or in ballast.

2.4. Assume the salvage tug was on daily hire at US$16000 a day. If she left Cape Town at 00:01 on 24 August, took a full day to reach the rig, and had to wait for three days to put a line aboard the rig, and that the tow to Ngqura took two days, and she had to wait three days for the wind to drop before the rig could enter the port.

2.4.1. How many days was she on hire from the time she left Cape Town?

2.4.2. How much (in US dollars) would the tug’s owner receive for the operation?

2.4.3. How much (in South African rands) would the South African office of the tug’s owner receive if the exchange rate at the time was US$1 = R13.04?