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Salvage Master 

Duties

• He is in charge of any vessel under assistance until it is delivered back to its owner.
• He organizes an emergency unit in which he manages all the salvage operations, the salvage team, including the assistance tug(s) participating in the operation and all other service vessels as well as any outside contracting companies.
• He supervises "tool-box safety meetings," i.e. daily safety briefings for the employees involved, that are organized by the assistant salvage master (or supervisor) who leads the intervention teams in the field.
• He must gather as much technical information as possible as quickly as possible from the assisted vessel (vessel plans, list and cargo stowage plan, information on the status of the vessel during and after the accident such as draughts, ballast distribution, type of accident, water intake, torn hull, etc. After that, he must conduct all initial investigations (probe samples, water height around the vessel, inspections of hull, ballast, holds, engine room, etc.)
• He mobilizes adequate human and material resources, including, in the most sensitive cases, a marine architect specialized in salvage, experts (chemists, etc.) depending on the vessels and the cargo, with whom he will work in close collaboration.
• He must take any and all necessary measures to avoid or minimize pollution risks.
• He must prepare a salvage plan as quickly as possible to propose to the client and its insurers as well as to the onshore and offshore maritime authorities who approve it. This plan includes a risk analysis that facilitates decision-making as the salvage operation unfolds. The plan is obviously scaleable depending on the conditions encountered during the operation (weather conditions in particular). The plan also calls for a safe haven to deliver the vessel back.
• Lastly, he is the contact person for the local onshore authorities and the maritime Prefect concerned. Major operational decisions are made in collaboration with those authorities, who exercise increasingly strict oversight and control.

Training and Experience

There is no academic training for the positions of salvage master or salvage officer.
Salvage masters and officers are certified merchant navy officers.
They must have diverse experience in navigation on all types of vessel and have navigated on assistance and salvage tugs for several years. They continue to acquire practical skills and knowledge on salvage in the field as the various operations proceed with the assistance of experienced officers.

For each major operation, a feedback session is held at headquarters with the principal officers involved. In addition, theoretical and practical training sessions are held regularly (particularly on training in and implementation of salvage equipment).

In addition, large-scale drills are held regularly by the Navy in each maritime prefecture concerned (Brest, Cherbourg, Toulon). With these drills the different approaches can be coordinated: tugs, air support, other vessels of the Navy, Customs, Gendarmerie, SAMU (emergency health and assistance services), etc. They provide training under near-real conditions.