Key Points:
There are different ways of ensuring that the salvage
reward can be determined after the salvage.
Salvage arbitration is a less well known and specialised area of
arbitration. Salvage is the saving of life or the preservation of a
ship, cargo or certain other property from peril at sea.
Like most other aspects of maritime law, salvage has a long
history although particularly since the development of a salvage
industry at the end of the nineteenth century, there have been some
fundamental changes. In the first place, most salvage operations
are now performed under salvage contracts. Secondly, salvage is now
regulated by the International Convention on Salvage 1989, which
entered into force in Australia by virtue of Part VII of the
Navigation Act 1912. Thirdly, there is now an overriding interest
in preventing oil pollution.
