Liability salvage - environmental award: A new name for an old concept
Liability salvage - environmental award: A new name for an old concept

Summary/Abstract: For a long time the principal of ''no-cure no-pay'' prevented the assessment of the salvage award where no property has been salved. However, the practice has shown that a blind adherence to that principle may and will jeopardize the protection of the marine environment, especially in the cases were a disaster of a laden tanker (spills of oil and LNG carried as cargo) or large (over 10.000 TEU) vessel (bunker and HNS spills) is likely. The professional salvors, alerted by a number of unfavorable cases, were not anymore prepared to risk their lives and high operational costs of salvage, in situations where a chance of successful recovery of at least a part of property was small. When a number of major oil-spill disasters occurred, the maritime community finally reacted, at first through the industry means of specialized salvage contract forms, followed by a modern regulation of the law of salvage. These legal instruments enabled the salvors to seek remuneration of costs even when the salvage has been unsuccessful, provided that they have used their skill and efforts to protect the marine environment. The status of the salvage industry is furthermore strengthened by the appropriate norms regarding the right to limit the liability, and the exclusion of liability in cases of damage caused by oil pollution (oil carried as cargo). However, no such provisions are ensured regarding the possible spills of bunker oil, or in the case of the criminal sanctions for ship-source pollution. The International Salvage Union reacted strongly against such regulations, threatening to stop the salvage operations until appropriate guarantees have been secured. In the meantime, a CMI questionnaire has been distributed to the Member States to the 1989 Salvage Convention, asking for opinions on, among other things, the possibility of creating a parallel, Environmental Award. So far, the initial Governmental response has been largely unsupportive of the notion.

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