Announcing Salvage & Wreck Asia

Understanding the challenges

Improving technology is generally seen as a boon to industry. For the salvage and wreck removal industries, however, the picture is more uncertain. On the one hand, drones, reliable communications technology and more efficient clean-up equipment diminish some of the challenges that salvors face. On the other hand, larger and more sophisticated vessel designs can make the job of the salvor more complicated and prone to risk. 

Added to this is the impact of social media, which has meant that it is no longer enough for salvors only to take care of the operational aspects of salvage and casualty response. Effectively managing perceptions in the digital sphere is now a necessity if a public relations backlash is to be avoided.

Not all the challenges that the salvage and wreck removal industries face are technological in origin, either. Another comes in the form of the erosion by insurers of the world’s most widely used salvage contract, the LOF. Increasingly insurers are opting for cheaper commercial contracts which reduce salvors’ awards, and decrease their incentives for action. 

Identifying the solutions

In order to tackle these issues and many others, more than thirty expert speakers and over a hundred attendees from the Asia-Pacific region will come together in Singapore on the 4th – 6th of September for the Salvage & Wreck Asia Conference. Incorporating viewpoints from all the relevant parties in the salvage value chain, including shipowners, insurers, P&I clubs and salvage professionals, the conference will provide invaluable insights on how best to survive current market conditions, and adapt to the demands of the future. 

Comprising presentations, open panel discussions and detailed practical case studies, the conference sessions will examine topics including strategies for casualty response, new equipment for assisting salvage operations, updates on places of refuge, and best practice for cross jurisdictional salvage operations.   

Speakers for Salvage & Wreck Asia 2017 include representatives from the International Salvage Union, The Nippon Salvage Co Ltd, Resolve Salvage & Fire and T&T Salvage Asia. Among the confirmed speakers are:

• Bas Wiebe, General Manager at Resolve Salvage & Fire
• Alex Pinto, Director of Richard Hoggs Lindley / Charles Taylor Adjusting (Marine)
• John Witte, President of the International Salvage Union
• Jiro Okubo, Deputy General Manager & Salvage Master at The Nippon Salvage Co Ltd
• Tony Goldsmith, Partner & Master Mariner at Hill Dickinson
• Harry Hirst, Partner and Master Mariner at Ince & Co
• Jim Allsworth, Head of Admiralty at CSolutions 
• Edward Ion, Asia Director at Navigate Response

Join us at Salvage & Wreck Asia this year to hear from the experts and share your own perspective. Find out more here.