ISU: 231 pollution prevention services to vessels during 2025

Maintaining a professional salvage industry with the capability to deal with casualties and incidents wherever they occur is essential and needs to be properly funded. We are proud of the record which this survey confirms

… said President of the ISU, Leendert Muller.

In an exclusive interview to SAFETY4SEA, James Herbert, Secretary General of the International Salvage Union, had explained that ISU’s priorities for the next few years will be to promote the value of the industry, ensure that it is financially stable and that stakeholders recognize and value the environmental contribution made by commercial salvors.

Each year there can be significant variations in the quantities of pollutants in each category. The number of containers in 2025 is notably higher than last year. Containers, after bulk cargo, remain the most significant category with ISU members providing services to vessels carrying 69,000 TEU amounting to just over 1 million tons of cargo. It compares with 506,000 tons of crude oil.

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.

Cargoes of refined oil products decreased in 2025 and there was very little chemical cargo recorded in the survey. Bulk cargoes in 2025 were 1.2 million tons. A number of the services in the survey did not record the quantity of bunkers or the cargo type meaning the reported numbers likely represent a more modest total than the reality.

2025 ISU pollution prevention survey results (tons)

The 231 services in 2025 included 42 wreck removal/marine services contracts; 13 Lloyd’s Open Forms; 37 towage contracts; 15 Japanese Forms; 12 fixed price/lump sum, 31 day rate contracts; 53 other contracts (including commercial terms) and 28 Turkish Forms.

ISU is transparent in noting that not all the potential pollutants were at immediate risk of going into the sea. Some cases will have had limited danger, but others will have carried a real risk of causing substantial environmental damage.

The survey was first conducted by ISU in 1994, and the methodology was updated in 2014 to include a wider range of potential pollutants including containers and hazardous and dirty bulk cargoes.

In the period 1994 to end-2025, ISU members have provided services to casualty vessels carrying 48,790,081 tonnes of potential pollutants, an average of 1.5 million tonnes per year.

ISU members are in most cases the only resource available to prevent a marine casualty from becoming an environmental disaster. This survey shows clearly 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

… commented President of the ISU, Leendert Muller.