Salvage at Sea: International Law Problems

Abstract

Purpose. The presented paper is aimed at identifying and assessing the current international legal problems of salvage at the sea, which appeared and still appeas in litigation and commercial practice. Design/Methodology/Approach. Various authors explore the problem of differentiation by the salvage and the towing in the shipping. The authors analyze the objects of the salvage in historical perspective, as well as the basic how to recognize if the ship, which engaged in to the salvage operations at sea, salvor, deserving the reward for salvage, or not. Marine activities, that is, activities related to navigation, have always been in risky for the people and for the property involved in such activities. The legal rules regulate the relations, arising from the maritime activities, very specifically. Issues related to the legal regulation of merchant shipping are always relevant. Findings. Salvage at sea is a legal institution that combines the legal norms typical for the law of the sea and characteristic of various spheres of social relations: both humanitarian and economic, both private and public law. Contract of salvage can be defined as any contract which purpose is to carry out a salvage operation in relation to a ship or other property at risk in any navigable waters. Most maritime salvage operations are carried out under specific contracts. The main feature of most of these contracts is that the salvor undertakes to provide salvage services, without being in advance certain that will achieve a positive result. The right to remuneration arises only when the salvor achieves such a result. Practical Implications. The research results may be implemented into international maritime and salvage activities. Originality/Value. Often, such contracts do not specify the amount of remuneration, as it is difficult to determine before or even during the salvage operation. As a result, the amount of remuneration is most often determined in the process of judicial or arbitration proceedings on salvage. So after finishing the salvage operation the salvor wants to ensure that his requirements in a specific amount. To this end, the salvor turns on to the persons interested in the salved property with a demand to issue a Bank guarantee or a letter of mutual insurance club, and sometimes - another reliable insurer. If this type of provision was not available, the savlor can arrest rescued property until the decision of placing collateral or until a court decision or arbitration on the determination of the final award. A contract concluded prior to the occurrence of danger to the vessel or other property is not a rescue contract. The legal institution of salvage at sea is very complex and insufficiently studied, and judicial practice is quite contradictory, especially if such relations are complicated by relations concerning the collision of ships, towing, etc. Therefore, further efforts should be made in the field of research of legal norms and legal relations governing rescue at sea.