Key takeaways
Understanding salvage award principles
Common law and public policy shape decisions.
Encouraging investment in salvage operations
Awards aim to support maritime safety efforts.
Article 13 sets clear assessment criteria
Convention codifies key legal considerations.
Authors
Having looked at Article 13.1(a) and salved fund in Part 2 and Part 3 of this series, I now turn to the next Articles.
13.1 (b) The skill and efforts of the salvors in preventing or minimising damage to the environment.
Under Article 8 of the Salvage Convention, the salvor has a duty to prevent or minimise damage to the environment. This is replicated in clause B of LOF. This largely stemmed from Lord Donaldson’s report following the “Braer” casualty off the Shetland Isles in 1993. It has become somewhat controversial given that property insurers do not actually cover liabilities arising from oil pollution. This led some years ago to the salvage industry campaigning for environmental salvage to be awarded separately and one to which the P&I Clubs were vociferously opposed. Undoubtedly, the property underwriters would have supported the salvors on this, given that they would say that the liability insurers should pick up the responsibility for any work done by the salvors in performing the salvage services to prevent or minimise damage to the environment and which is now a common feature of many salvage cases. This would obviously have had a reducing effect on any property salvage award. However, the idea died a death and was to some extent at least overtaken by the SCOPIC Clause.
13.1 (c) The measure of success obtained by the salvor.
This is the extent to which the salvor has salved the casualty from the dangers faced or, put another way, the extent of the benefit conferred.
For example, the salvors may successfully fight a fire on board a vessel, and will undoubtedly be encouraged and rewarded for their efforts in doing so, but if ultimately the fire would have burnt itself out, or the vessel is nonetheless a constructive total loss, the measure of success will be somewhat less than if the salvors actually prevented the fire from rendering the vessel a constructive total loss or from spreading to other areas and potentially damaging cargo.
In the next article, which you can now find here, I will look at one of the other most important factors in assessing a salvage award, namely dangers.