ISU publishes 2025 Annual Review and statistics
The headline 2025 numbers for salvage response by members of the International Salvage Union show a dramatic fall in gross income – down by 53 per cent to US$190 million compared to US$406 million in 2024, according to the ISU Annual Review 2025 published this week.
The shortfall was due to a significant drop in wreck removal – both activity and income, explains the ISU. In a typical year, wreck removal income and emergency response income are approximately equal for ISU members. But in 2025, wreck removal income was US$ 46 million from 18 services compared with US$ 205 million the previous year.
Emergency response services generated US$ 144 million split between LOF (Lloyd’s Open Forum) at US$ 50 million and other contracts at US$ 93 million.
The number of services provided is generally down but it is the great drop in wreck removal income that has dramatically reduced overall income levels, notes the ISU. “The salvage industry can have significant variability year-on-year but a drop of more than 50% will have a major impact on ISU members,” it says. “The variability makes it hard to plan, and reduced income will affect investment decisions.”
The 2025 ISU statistics show 18 LOF cases for ISU members – only just above the historic low of 16 LOFs in 2023. LOF income in 2025 was an average of 7 per cent of the salved value for each case. SCOPIC income was US$ 1.2 million which is historically low.
Revenue in 2025 from operations conducted under contracts other than LOF was US$ 93 million. The average revenue from each non-LOF contract was US$ 720,000.
“One of the ISU’s key messages is that our industry needs to be financially sustainable,” comments ISU President Leendert Muller (pictured). “A capable, professional salvage industry with the capacity to provide emergency response around the world and available to undertake major projects like wreck removals is essential to the business of international shipping.
“ISU members are in most cases the only resource available to prevent a marine casualty from becoming an environmental disaster,” he continues. “Our pollution prevention survey shows how important our members are to the shipping industry but also to wider society. And we reduce the exposure of shipowners and their insurers to potentially huge costs and reputational damage.”
Members of the ISU also provided 231 services to vessels carrying nearly 3 million tonnes of potentially polluting cargo and fuel during operations in 2025, compared to 62 services to vessels carrying 2.4 tonnes in 2024. The number of container vessels served was notably higher, the ISU pointing out: “It is now commonly accepted that containers carrying a great variety of harmful and dangerous goods including plastic pellets (nurdles) are one of the biggest threats to the marine environment.”