International Salvage Union publishes 2024 industry statistics showing stabilisation of sector

The ISU has published its annual statistics for 2024. They are the only published measure of the state of the industry but do not include information from non-ISU members.

Gross revenue for ISU members were marginally up at US$ 406 million (compared to US$ 398 million in 2023). The number of services provided was also up slightly ay 191 services provided (184). Of these, Lloyd’s Open Form (LOF) cases numbered 29 (16) with revenue of US$ 118 million (US$ 29 million), both levels comfortably ahed of the previous year.

The ISU points out that all numbers are gross income from which all the contractors’ costs must be paid. Numbers are for income in the year received not the year when the service was provided and there can be an element of ‘time lag’.

ISU says that the headline 2024 numbers show great consistency with the 2023 statistics and continue with the modest recovery from the low point of 2022. Emergency response services generated US$ 181 million split between LOF, US$ 118 million, and other contracts, $63 million.

Wreck removal income was US$ 205 million from 40 operations – very similar to the 2023 number of US$ 193 million (from 30 operations). Wreck removal income is important for ISU members and these numbers maintain the division of the industry’s income at the typical levels of approximately 50:50 between emergency response and wreck removal income.

ISU President, John Witte, commented: “These numbers at least show that the industry has stabilised compared with the low point two years ago but they are still well below the higher numbers from a decade ago. Sustaining the salvage industry so that professional contractors are available to respond around the world remains a focus both for ISU but also for the insurance and ship owning communities.”

The 2024 ISU statistics show an increased number of LOF cases - 29 for ISU members - generating income of US$ 118 million. This is a notable increase on the previous year in which there were 16 LOF cases which had been the lowest level of LOF contracts for ISU members since the ISU started collecting statistics some 30 years ago.

SCOPIC revenue at US$ 20 million in 2024 was up from US$ 9 million previously.

The increased number of LOFs is notable but ISU says it is not possible to attribute this to a specific cause given that the statistics are for the year when income is received, not when the services were provided. ISU believes that income based on awards under Article 13 of the Salvage Convention should be the cornerstone of funding the industry so the increase is welcome.

Revenue in 2024 from operations conducted under contracts other than LOF was US$ 63 million. The average revenue from each non-LOF contract was US$ 1.2 million.

The ISU statistics are collected from all ISU members by a professional third party, which aggregates and analyses them.