ISU President Leendert Muller gave one of the opening speeches at the new Global Salvage and Wreck Forum in London and reminded the delegates of the importance of a financially sustainable salvage industry. The conference was jointly organised by the ISU, International Underwriting Association, and International Group of P&I Clubs after the previous commercial producer withdrew. There was a “sell out” audience and the two days were a great success.

Andrew Chamberlain, partner at HFW, chaired the conference which had a varied programme examining current issues like Places of Refuge, and the role of coastal state authorities. There was a panel with ISU Salvage sub Committee chair, Eline Muller, addressing the role of cargo interests in salvage cases.
ISU member Smit’s managing director, Richard Janssen, gave a case study about the multiple issues encountered in the services provided to the ASL BAUHINIA. Rodrigo Bella, principal of Harbor Star (The Philippines); Naci Hoscan, deputy GM Salvage, Aras Salvage (Turkey) and Alexander Tsavliris from Tsavliris Salvage all gave presentations on cases and which demonstrated the wide capability of ISU members around the world.

The three organisers intended the event to be “for the industry, by the industry” with more realistic pricing aiming to cover costs only.

ISU Secretary General, James Herbert, commented: “The conference was oversubscribed and the atmosphere was overwhelmingly positive and initial feedback from delegates suggests that it was a great success. Formal commitment has not yet been made but I expect that we will repeat the event in a similar way next year. Colleagues from ISU, IG and IUA worked with excellent cooperation to deliver a brilliant forum.”