When things go wrong at sea . . .

FEWER ships get into real trouble these days than a few decades ago, but when they do, the risks can be much greater now, with very large vessels and massive quantities of pollutive substances often on board.

When ships become casualties, two groups within the shipping community become particularly important - salvors and insurers. It just so happens that the International Salvage Union (ISU) and the International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI) both recently provided updates on their current business prospects, based on last year's experience.

The ISU says that, in 2018, its members provided service to vessels carrying 3.2 million tonnes of potentially polluting cargo and fuel. The data comes from the results of the ISU's 2018 Pollution Prevention Survey.