Selecting A Yacht Salvage Contractor
The first question to ask yourself in selecting your yacht salve contractor is what and how are you prepared to pay for the yacht salvage. This is typically a very specialized field and there are not a lot of companies that provide this service. In addition there are several types of salvage activity that will be usually dictated by the circumstances. For instance if your yacht has burned but is still afloat and you have not abandoned the vessel, then the yacht salvage efforts will usually just require a tow to the nearest yard where your insurance agents can assess the damage to your yacht. Then, depending on that outcome the yacht salvage specialist may require a certain amount of the refit contracts.
If your yacht has sunk, and you have abandoned the yacht then you will actually need to pay very special attention to the maritime laws before getting involved with a yacht salvage contractor. Under these circumstances smaller vessels are normally just allowed to rot on the bottom of the ocean, it is the hundred foot luxury vessels that are of real interest. In these cases the value of the vessel can be many millions of dollars and the owner and the owners insurance agents typically stay very close to the issues. Yacht salvage for a luxury yacht requires a lot of special tools.
Simply to get the yacht to the surface will require a dive team, special ships that can handle the special flotation equipment, and of course the salvage attorneys. Yacht salvage at this level is a multi million dollar event and may actually also attract the press.
Contractor Negotiation
If you are going to succeed financially with your yacht salvage efforts then you will need to get an attorney right from the beginning of the efforts. It will be important that your contract with the yacht salvage contractor cover almost any outcome, likely or not, that may happen. For instance you should be aware that many yacht salvage specialists may embed their agreements with a fail clause. What this means is that should they not be able to re-float the vessel then they have all rights to the remains sitting at the bottom of the sea. This of course means that they actually would prefer not to get the ship back to the surface as they can then take it apart at the bottom and sell it for parts. This is not a good situation. Yacht salvage is not a really clean game, the yacht owner can stand to lose all they have if they are not careful.