Throughout the course of 2017 there have been 63 LOF contracts agreed and/or reported to Lloyd's. The figure is substantially up from the 49 reported contracts in 2016 and will be extremely encouraging news to all those involved in the Salvage Industry.

22 of the LOF contracts involved services rendered to bulk carriers, compared to 21 in 2016 and as such there is a notable proportionate reduction in casualties involving bulk carriers.

The next biggest category is to general cargo vessels which sees an increase to 14 from last year's figure of 8. Tankers make up 9 of the LOF contracts with 8 of those being in load. Of those 8 tankers, four involved breakdowns including one following an engine room fire, three were groundings and one resulted from a collision.

Four containerships, all groundings, required assistance, with perhaps the most notable being the service to the Kea Trader, which grounded off the coast of New Caledonia on 12 July 2017. LOF services were also provided to eight yachts, two passenger ro-ro's, a barge carrier, an LPG carrier, a cargo ro-ro and a tender. Almost all of the casualties have been reported on in the Casualty Newsletter.

Overall there have been 26 groundings, 26 breakdowns (two following engine room fires), four collisions, two fires and two cases involving water ingress or a loss of stability. There are three services to yachts for which no details are have been provided to Lloyd's. The SCOPIC clause was invoked in 14 cases with at least 10 of those vessels being loaded with cargo. Of the 64 LOFs, at least 12 matters have had an Arbitrator appointed from the LOF Panel although that does not necessarily mean the matters have proceeded to Arbitration.

Finally an analysis shows that 7 of the LOFs relate to salvage services performed by occasional salvors with the remaining 57 being performed by companies with a commitment to providing salvage assistance and who are recognised as investing in craft, personnel and equipment to benefit the shipping industry.

Collectively the Greek salvage companies have performed 28 of the salvage operations with the Tsavliris Companies performing the most, at 12 services.

( Source: Roose+Partners' Casualty Newsletter - Edition 249 - 3 January 2018).