ISU forms industry lobby on places of refuge

ISU president Leendert Muller, also md of Multraship, told Seatrade that the salvors' body was frustrated by "10 years of inactivity" by governments on the issue following IMO Guidelines on places of refuge for Ships in Need of Assistance published in 2013. A framework of international and regional regulations is in place, yet salvors still often have to "battle the authorities to find a safe place to bring a casualty," he said.

The 2007 Prestige accident remains the most notable disaster of recent years that could have been prevented by a safe place of refuge, but more recently fires aboard the MSC Flaminia and Stolt Valor in 2012 both showed up states' reluctance to provide places of refuge for damaged ships for fear of pollution.

The campaign effectively kicks off today when the executive committee of the London-based ISU meets with the UK SOSREP (Secretary of State's Representative for Maritime Salvage and Intervention) and will raise the issue, pointing out that salvors often need to take a casualty to a sheltered place to carry out repairs and cargo transfer. It is hoped that the UK will align itself with the new lobby campaign, the UK being one of the more proactive countries on Places of Refuge having created the special SOSREP post in 1999.