Problem solving through Covid-19 and beyond

Roger Evans, of the International Salvage Union, provides an assessment of the state of the marine salvage industry

The worldwide coronavirus has caused huge issues and challenges to the shipping industry. Members of the International Salvage Union (ISU), many of which are shipowners and employ their own seafarers, have been affected and salvage operations have been made more complex logistically. There have been concerns about delay when salvage teams have been forced by quarantine requirements to wait – in some cases for weeks – before being able to proceed to a job, or to de-mobilise, and travel restrictions have made crew changes difficult. The IMO has campaigned for seafarers to be nominated as “key workers” to enable them to move more freely which ISU supports.