ASA Passes Key Initiatives

At its Fall Board Meeting, October 2004, the American Salvage Association (ASA) approved a number of key initiatives to be undertaken by the membership over the next several months:

-- ASA will work to help the U.S. Coast Guard review its current list of Salvage, Firefighting and Lightering contractors that provide service in response to the requirements of OPA-90. In the ASA’s view, the current list is out of date and does not present a realistic picture of U.S. salvage capabilities.

-- ASA’s Salvage Training Program will continue, with the next class scheduled for the U.S. Coast Guard Gulf Strike Team at its facility in Mobile, AL during December 2004.

-- ASA Associate Members will have the opportunity to join ASA Committees and attend ad-hoc meetings. Mr. Ken Edgar (Marine Response Consultants) and Capt. Jack Ringleberg (JMS Naval Architects & Salvage Engineers) were approved to act as Chair and Vice Chair of the Associate Membership Committee, respectively.

-- ASA will create a committee to review the value of and need for the Accreditation of Salvage Masters and the set of standards to be used.

-- All ASA members will conform to and implement the ASA Salvage Safety Standards, established last year.

-- ASA will hold the next National Maritime Salvage Conference on November 1-3, 2005 at the Hyatt Superdome in New Orleans, LA.

-- ASA will work with the U.S. Navy’s Supervisor of Salvage and offer the salvage industry’s perspective on the Marine Board’s recently issued Marine Salvage Capability Report, and specifically address the capability of the U.S. salvage community to respond to a terrorist attack in remote areas.