Page 15: of Marine News Magazine (October 2017)

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about the dropping cost of wreck re- but the tender process must be man- and storm surge damage is primarily moval and so should the P&I Clubs. aged professionally and fairly. All too in that area. ASA members took the

The Clubs have taken advantage of often underwriters and their chosen lead on channel clearance operations the current market that has thorough- representatives ask for professional- in Port Aransas and Port Mans? eld ly depressed wreck removal prices, but ism, experience and quality but in the to remove vessel casualties. There are it may well back? re if this forces fur- end they succumb to price pressure or numerous other salvage projects un- ther consolidation among the salvage hold a risk auction. I am comforted derway in this zone including sunken majors. The trend of hiring wreck by the belief that time has a way of tugs, stranded barges and many dis- removal contractors, many of which sorting things out and that we are due placed ? shing and recreational ves- are new in the market, just because for a market correction to the positive sels. Despite the fact that several of they are cheap and will take the most for our members. our member companies are based risk is not a good long term business in the Houston area and directly af-

What is the salvage response (as strategy for anyone. The same is true fected by the storm, the ASA respond- early as it may be) to Harvey on of emergency response contracts. I ers mounted a rapid and effective re-

Gulf Coast? was involved in tendering for a recent sponse. As I write this Hurricane Irma emergency response where underwrit- ASA salvors are busy responding to has just strengthened into one of the ers stated up front that they expected numerous vessel and waterways issues strongest hurricanes on record and is a discount of 25% on the internation- in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. bearing down on the Caribbean and ally accepted SCOPIC rates. That is While most of the media focus has towards the US. Undoubtedly, the aftermath of this storm will be major no way to foster a development of rightfully been on the tragic ? ood- salvage capability and meet the rising ing event in the Houston area, the news by the time this is published and demands of modern salvage including Category 4 hurricane made landfall our members will be heavily involved mega ship response, etc. north of Corpus Christi and the wind in the response operations.

Local and regional salvage compa- nies now think they can compete on the world stage. Increasingly, they bid on jobs that typically would have been bid out to 4-5 compa- nies with the ? nancial wherewithal and proven experience to do the job. Now you may have 10 or more companies bidding on work, and it could cost a half a million dollars or more to do the survey, draw up the plans, do the diving and complete the RFP. At the end of the day, only one company gets the work and the others are out a lot of money. How do you balance the need to participate in the bid process with the knowledge that you might not be the “winner” on a given day?

As I stated above, the trend is ex- ceedingly frustrating to the major salvors that have made huge invest- ments over the decades in personnel, equipment and overall capability. Our members don’t mind competition www.marinelink.com 15MN