London-based trade association International Salvage Union (ISU) has released its annual statistics for 2024, revealing a modest recovery in the salvage industry from the low point of 2022.
“These numbers at least show that the industry has stabilised compared with the low point two years ago, but they are still well below the higher numbers from a decade ago,” according to John Witte, ISU president, a trade association which represents the interests of its members who are professional marine salvage contractors around the world.
Gross revenue for ISU members was $406m, up from $398m in 2023. The number of services provided reached 191, up from 184 the previous year.
Meanwhile, the 2024 ISU statistics show an increased number of Lloyd’s Open Form (LOF) cases – 29 for ISU members – generating income of $118m compared to $29m in 2023. This is a notable increase on the previous year, ISU says, in which there were 16 LOF cases which had been the lowest level of LOF contracts for ISU members since the ISU started collecting statistics some 30 years ago.
Emergency response services generated $181m split between LOF, $118m, and other contracts, $63m.
Wreck removal income was $205m from 40 operations – very similar to the 2023 number of $193m.
Wreck removal income is important for ISU members, ISU said, adding that these numbers maintain the division of the industry’s income at the typical levels of approximately 50:50 between emergency response and wreck removal income.
SCOPIC revenue at $20m in 2024 was up from $9m previously.
The increased number of LOFs is notable, says the ISU, but it is not possible to attribute this to a specific cause given that the statistics are for the year when income is received, not when the services were provided. ISU believes that income based on awards under article 13 of the Salvage Convention should be the cornerstone of funding the industry, so the increase is welcome.
Revenue in 2024 from operations conducted under contracts other than LOF was $63m. The average revenue from each non-LOF contract was $1.2m.
“Sustaining the salvage industry so that professional contractors are available to respond around the world remains a focus both for ISU but also for the insurance and ship owning communities,” the ISU president added.
The ISU statistics are collected from all ISU members by a professional third party, which aggregates and analyses them. They are the only published measure of the state of the industry but do not include information from non-ISU members.
All numbers are gross income from which all the contractors’ costs must be paid. Numbers are for income in the year received not the year when the service was provided and there can be an element of “time lag”.
The headline 2024 numbers show great consistency with the 2023 statistics and continue with the modest recovery from the low point of 2022.
