Salvage Marine Firefighting News

On January 1, 2021, in an unusual New Year’s Day session, the Senate (following similar action by the House) overrode President Trump’s veto and enacted into law the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) (H.R. 6395). In addition to the provisions relating to the Department of Defense, the bill contains numerous maritime sections, including Authorization Acts for the Coast Guard (USCG), the Maritime Administration (MARAD), and the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC).Coast GuardThe Coast Guard Authorization Act allows for acquisition of an additional National Security Cutter…

Rudy Teichman, a legend in the U.S. marine salvage industry, founded T&T in 1957, now one of the world’s largest international salvage companies. In a sense, Rudy was larger than life and one who was often referred to as a “force of nature.” He was an entrepreneur, inventor, salvor, deep sea diver, airplane pilot, licensed mariner, restaurateur, musician, philanthropist, mechanic, machinist, politician, and husband, father and grandfather. And, in spite all of his accomplishments, he was more importantly a man of character, hard work and integrity, in a time when your word was your contract.

This month’s featured INSIGHTS executive is Steven A. Candito, President and CEO of the National Response Corporation (NRC). He has extensive experience with OPA 90 compliance issues with particular focus on vessel owner and insurance matters. Candito was previously an attorney with Haight Gardner Poor & Havens, specializing in maritime litigation and environmental law. He also served as a marine engineer aboard Exxon USA’s domestic tanker fleet from 1980 to 1985. Candito is a graduate of Hofstra University School of Law and the United States Merchant Marine Academy.

President & CEO: Joseph Farrell, Jr. RESOLVE Marine Group, Inc. is a marine services organization that provides salvage, emergency response, training, naval architecture and marine engineering and many other services to the global maritime industry. For more than 30 years, RESOLVE has served commercial shipping companies, cruise lines, the offshore oil and gas industry, marine insurers, governments, agencies and other clients worldwide. The firm’s services include marine salvage…

Marine Response Alliance (MRA), an association of the top U.S. emergency responders providing OPA 90 Salvage Marine Firefighting (SMFF), says it has launched an exclusive mobile app, providing ship owners/operators, qualified individuals (QIs) and the U.S. Coast Guard with immediate access to the MRA’s resources for Salvage Marine Fire Fighting as per OPA 90 compliance as well as the ability to report incidents through TITAN Salvage (MRA partner) around the world. The OPA 90 SMFF app allows users to report an incident…

Marine Response Alliance (MRA), an association of the top U.S. emergency responders providing OPA 90 Salvage Marine Firefighting (SMFF), has launched an exclusive mobile app, providing ship owners/operators, qualified individuals (QIs) and the U.S. Coast Guard with immediate access to the MRA's resources for Salvage Marine Fire Fighting as per OPA 90 compliance as well as the ability to report incidents through TITAN Salvage (MRA partner) around the world. The OPA 90 SMFF app allows users to report an incident…

Samina Mahmood, former commercial manager for TITAN Salvage, has been appointed manager for Marine Response Alliance, an association of U.S. emergency responders providing OPA 90 Salvage Marine Firefighting (SMFF). MRA, founded in 1994, combines experts in all facets of emergency response with salvage, firefighting and lightering equipment in all Captain of the Port Zones. Alliance members include TITAN, Crowley, Marine Pollution Control and McAllister Towing & Transportation.

Marine Response Alliance (MRA), an association of U.S. emergency responders providing OPA 90 Salvage Marine Firefighting (SMFF), has relocated from Pompano, Fla., to Houston to be situated with international salvage partner TITAN Salvage. Conveniently located near George Bush International airport, the new office boasts a 102,500 square-foot maintenance and warehousing facility with 4.61 acres of outside storage. Built to suit, the facility includes a state-of-the-art Emergency Response Center manned 24/7, the only one of its kind in the United States.

Resolve Salvage & Fire (Europe), Ltd., the European emergency response subsidiary of U.S.- based Resolve Marine Group, Inc., has added a new office at 23, Austin Friars, London, expanding the company’s U.K. operations base. The 34-year-old marine salvage, emergency response and wreck removal company has been steadily expanding, both geographically and in its service offerings for the international maritime industry. Joining the new London office is Daniel Dettor, a Commercial Manager formerly based at Resolve’s corporate headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

Resolve Fire and Salvage signed an agreement with Fire Department New York (FDNY) last week, allowing the vast resources of the FDNY to be included in Resolve’s network of first responders that are available to vessel owners and operators, under the OPA90 Salvage & Marine Firefighting (SMFF) requirements. “FDNY has an excellent marine division that already responds first to marine incidents. This agreement simply formalizes FDNY’s role in the Vessel Response Plan (VRP), as a fellow marine firefighting responder, under the OPA90 SMFF regulations.

Resolve Salvage & Fire, the salvage, emergency response and wreck removal subsidiary of Resolve Marine Group, Inc., has completed the removal of the grounded 202-foot freighter Jireh from Mona Island. Mona Island lies 35 miles off the western coast of Puerto Rico and is a 22- square-mile ecological reserve managed and protected by Puerto Rico’s Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DRNA). Resolve worked closely with the Unified Command -- comprising U.S. Coast Guard (USCG)…

Regulation shapes the workboat industry perhaps more than any other single factor. This regulatory seascape includes a myriad of onerous and ever-changing rules. A ‘SITREP’ on those choppy waters is therefore in order. Last December, the Coast Guard closed the public comment period following its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) requiring nearly all towing vessels to obtain Certificates of Inspection under Subchapter M of CFR 46. The Coast Guard’s Towing Vessel National Center of Expertise (NCE) estimates that there are 5,800 U.S.

When Admiral Robert J. Papp assumed the duties of the 24th Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard on May 25, 2010, he also served notice that it won’t be business as usual at headquarters. Papp, unlike his three immediate predecessors, apparently has no intention of setting the world on fire by instituting sweeping changes. Inside the Coast Guard, the proverbial round turn is probably good news. For maritime businesses that trudge along under the collective weight of mounting regulatory burdens, an arguably willing partner now resides in the C-suite. From Papp’s perspective, the overarching link for all of the Coast Guard’s collective missions is the maritime aspect of their service.

Resolve Marine Group, a leading marine salvage and emergency response company with worldwide operations, has acquired the Tug Resolve Suhaili, 102 TBP. Previously owned by ITC, the ocean towage and salvage tug is presently located in Freeport, Bahamas. Damian Allan, Resolve Director of Business Development announced the acquisition, stating “Resolve Suhaili is a great asset for our fleet worldwide. She will complement and support our core activities in the areas of Salvage, Wreck Removal and Emergency Towage.”  As an OPA90 Salvage & Marine Firefighting primary resource provider…

Donjon-SMIT, LLC, an OPA-90 Alliance, has received unconditional approval from the U.S. Coast Guard for its Salvage, Marine Firefighting and Lightering Contract and Funding Agreement. The Coast Guard’s full acceptance of the contract means that Donjon-SMIT, LLC now has the required approvals for a mechanism to contract with vessel owners needing salvage and marine response services required under OPA-90, and stipulated in the Salvage and Marine Firefighting Requirements; Vessel Response Plans for Oil; Final Rule dated December 31, 2008. The contract fully meets the Coast Guard’s 33 Code of Federal Regulations 155.4025 definition of “contract or other approved means,” including the “funding agreement” component of that definition.

By Richard B. A riddle: How many years, and how many Administrations does it take for an esteemed U.S. government agency to publish regulations that have likely already been written? The answer is 13 years and five Admirals. Thirteen surely is an unlucky number for the professional marine salvage industry in the United States, for it has, indeed, taken this many years for the United States Coast Guard to publish its proposed salvage regulations (to amend 33 CFR Part 155, Salvage & Marine Firefighting Requirements), which, after all this time, have once again been postponed for three more years. The future of these proposed regulations is as difficult to predict as the weather. The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 was the legislative response to a major shipping casualty within our borders.