Page 12: of Marine News Magazine (October 2016)

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INSIGHTS

Ro Amadeo 1 wreck removal. The American Salvage Asso- ciation (ASA) is indeed fortunate to have him at the helm, and MarineNews is similarly grateful to have him weigh in on the hottest response topics of the day. Listen in as Todd

Schauer schools us on ‘all things salvage.’

Give us an overview of the Salvage Industry in 2016 – the good and the bad – domestically and across the globe. What’s the number one thing on your plate today?

The salvage industry is under a lot of pressure in 2016.

In addition to a declining number of ship casualties, sal- vors are not immune from the economic trends of shipping and offshore markets which are clearly dismal in many sec-

Todd Schauer tors. While not directly linked to oil and gas, many salvors are diversi? ed into offshore services, platform decommis-

President, sioning, offshore towing, etc. and this business has slowed

American Salvage remarkably. It is a very tight market and there is ? erce competition for the work that is available. Concurrently

Association in the U.S., there is the added pressure of increased regula- tions including the recent entry into force of the NPREP

Guidelines which represent a substantial increase in the fre- odd Schauer is Director of Operations at Resolve quency and complexity of salvage and marine ? re? ghting

Marine Group, as well as President of the Ameri- can Salvage Association. After graduating from (SMFF) drills and exercises required for all ships. The U.S.

T

Coast Guard has also commenced another strict round of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy with a degree in Naval veri? cations for required SMFF capability that is generat-

Architecture in 1991, he followed that up with graduate ing some stress and may require additional spending. In degrees in Naval Architecture, Marine Engineering and short, salvors are going through a dif? cult phase. If there

Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan. is good news, I guess it’s that you don’t have to look very

And, while his considerable U.S. Coast Guard experience far to other shipping segments to ? nd that things could be includes shipboard engineering, marine safety, advanced much worse. While I understand that the situation we are engineering and emergency response, he is best known in is market driven, I do struggle to accept the imbalances for his longtime role in the commercial salvage business. that exist. Considering the broad range of emergency and

Schauer possesses more than 25 years of success as a Proj- wreck removal services that the salvage industry provides ect Manager, Salvage Master, Naval Architect, and Marine worldwide with an “any problem, anywhere, anytime”

Engineer; including 20 years of salvage related experience, mindset and capability including fully developed systems underscored by ? ve years of service on the USCG Salvage of response professionals and equipment, it isn’t hard to

Emergency Response Team (SERT), including acting as imagine how the industry can be under so much pressure.

Team Leader. Simply put, this salvage and response profes-

The extreme value of our small industry to the shipping sional has done it all. Today, he is directly responsible for community, the environment and the public good is ex-

Resolve’s global salvage, wreck removal and ? re? ghting op- ceptional and this value seems greatly unbalanced com- erations. His most recent major project accomplishments pared with the returns that exist in the current market and include wreck remediation of the M/V Rena and the Ro/ the foreseeable future.

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