Legal Issues Of Salvage During Towage

The tug was originally used in salvage,towing a failed vessel or a lost power vessel.Later,with the increase of power and advancement of ship technology,it gradually developed into an independent service project,towage.During the process of towage,unforeseen circumstances may put tow in danger.At that time,tug usually help tow out of danger,and some legal issues appear at the same time,and that are exactly what this article discusses.This paper is composed of four parts as follows:The first part introduces relevant concepts,including the concept of towage,the concept of salvage,the difference between two of them.This part is the basis of the full text.The second part discusses the essentials that should be met when towage is converted to salvage.This article research related typical foreign cases,and find the essentials are:First,the unforeseen circumstances put tow in danger;Second,the services provided by the tugowner are outside the scope of the contract.This article elaborates what is unforeseen circumstances,what is danger,and how to determine if the service provided by the tugowner is outside the scope of the towage contract.More,this article presents essentials that should be met when salvage eatablished in other ongoing maritime services.The third part discusses the impact of the establishment of salvage on the existing towage contract.There are two views:towage contract is suspended;towage contract is ending.This paper elaborates these two viewpoints and analyzes their advantages and disadvantages.Finally,this paper believes that "temporary impossibility in contract" is suitable for solving this problem.Based on this theory,it can be inferred that the towage contract should be temporarily suspended.The fourth part analyzes the remuneration under different views(including towage contract is suspended and ending).In the view of contract is suspended,there will be three different results while overcoming danger:towage contract is successfully completed,towage contract can not continue,towage contract is completed but delayed.Different conditions will get different remuneration,and some will even result in compensation.In the view of contract is ending,towage remuneration and salvage charges are calculated separately and do not interfere with each other.There may be special terms in towage contract,the validity of these terms influences remuneration.This article selects several typical terms and analyzes their effectiveness,we find that these agreements will be effectiveare when they accord with the public policy and law mandatory regulations.