What you need to perform it
Primary qualification
- Master Mariner (II/2) or senior chief engineer/naval architect with decades of complex casualties — the ticket qualifies, the record appoints.
- Advanced training in damage stability, strength and refloating (salvage-software calculation with the contractor).
- Contract and regulatory framework: LOF/SCOPIC, the 1989 Salvage Convention and the Nairobi Convention (wreck removal) handled fluently.
Basic STCW
- STCW basic training A-VI/1 and the management-level officer package (A-VI/2-1, A-VI/3, A-VI/4) in date
Specific courses
- Damage control: shoring, plugging and staged dewatering
- Ocean and emergency towage (tow master): tow rigs and strong points
- Emergency ship-to-ship oil transfer and pollution prevention
- Crisis stakeholder management: P&I club, hull insurers, maritime authority and press
Indicative experience
Indicative: 15-25 years across command, towage and salvage, with completed LOF operations on a Salvage Master's team before one's own first appointment (ISU companies' practice).
Observations
Employed by the salvage company (International Salvage Union members as reference), not the stricken owner. On scene his technical authority applies contractually; the ship master's remains. Progression: salvage officer → Salvage Master → operations director.
What this role does
The salvage operation's technical commander: assesses the casualty (grounding, fire, flooding, list), runs stability and strength with the naval-architecture team, negotiates the plan with owner, insurers and coastal State and directs tugs, divers and shipboard personnel until the ship is in safety. Works under salvage contracts (Lloyd's Open Form as the historic standard) where outcome is everything.
Typical watches
- Total availability during the emergency or incident
Key responsibilities
- Assume the technical direction of the rescue and define the refloating or towing strategy.
- Evaluate stability, flooding, waterways and reinforcement points of the damaged hull.
- Coordinate patches, bailing, hot work, diving and auxiliary means.
- Make operational decisions under pressure to reduce loss of life, cargo and the environment.
Operational scope
- Damaged ship
- emergency zone
- Refloating and towing operations
Profile reviewed by HydroAbyss (2026). Cited rules and timeframes are indicative: the final requirement is set by the flag State, the Administration and each company.