Peter Pietka CEO, SVITZER Salvage

Tell us about your background and how you became involved with the salvage industry. 

My education and background are in shipping, law and finance. I worked as a transactional attorney after law school, handling joint ventures, acquisitions and government contracts. Early in my career I became head of Corporate Affairs for Maersk North America & South America and lived in Madison, New Jersey for about five years. In fact, I was involved with Maersk’s acquisition of U.S.-based Sea-Land Service in 1999. While it was a big deal in the U.S., it was an even bigger deal in Denmark. 

Eventually I joined Maersk’s towing and salvage subsidiary, SVITZER, and assisted with the landmark purchase of Wijsmuller Towing in 2001. Wijsmuller was a Dutch towing and salvage giant with a very strong brand name. It was also much larger than SVITZER. The merger created the world’s largest towage and salvage company. For the next five years I helped with business development and legal affairs, during which time SVITZER went from 60 to 350 vessels and from five to 40 countries. 

I then managed North and South American operations and lived in Miami for five years. It was an exciting period as we grew the Western Hemisphere from 10 vessels to more than 60 vessels and hired over 100 people annually. I then went to Holland and became CEO of the salvage activity globally.

SVITZER’s roots go back to the 19th century. Are there any SVITZER family members still involved in the management of the company?

SVITZER is the oldest salvage and towage company in the world. In 1833, a young man named Emil Zeuthen Svitzer started a salvage company in Copenhagen. But to answer your question there are no Svitzers currently involved in the management of the company. Robert Uggla, who is the great-great-grandson of founder Peter Mærsk Møller, is CEO of SVITZER’s 500 vessels and 4,000 employees in more than 100 ports around the world.

When did A.P. Møller-Maersk purchase SVITZER? 

Maersk had purchased shares in the company since the 1940s. It purchased 100 percent of the company in 1979.

Explain the company’s ability to respond to a global emergency. Does the company own assets and maintain employees or does it hire vessels and salvors on a per-case basis? 

SVITZER Salvage has about 125 key salvage specialists around the world, and we are supported by more than 4,000 SVITZER employees in more than 40 countries.   The majority of the salvage operations we respond to are conducted by our own salvage teams and done with our own salvage equipment. We supplement our internal teams and assets with key external salvage personnel and equipment like diving companies and tug and barge operators, who can be seen as our partners in supporting salvage operations on immediate notice in every location in the world. We maintain a professional staff that works with both the SVITZER and Maersk organizations, which I might add is globally significant.  

How many offices are there?

SVITZER Salvage has its head office in Holland, and there are offices and/or pre-positioned equipment in Singapore, Australia, Brazil, South Africa, Greece and South Korea, among others. We also have a warehouse and office in Fort Lauderdale and an office in Miami. As you can see, our vast internal network allows us to respond to any emergency in any given location globally.

What is the Global Preparedness Program? 

The business of SVITZER Salvage is essential to the maritime industry’s general well-being. If there is a marine incident anywhere in the world and we are requested to assist, only after the commercial and legal terms are agreed upon can SVITZER take over the technical aspects of the job. 

In the event our customers have a salvage pre-agreement in place, which is what the Global Preparedness Program is all about, then under the framework agreement we avoid any legal or commercial negotiation, have pre-aligned response plans in place, and we already understand the vessel’s structural framework and can immediately begin to calculate the technical requirements. SVITZER also has a Salvage Academy to train our clients’ office and sea staff as well as work out procedural mechanisms between organizations, which makes the emergency response much quicker.

The point of the Global Preparedness Program is to improve the quality of the emergency response, the response times, and minimize the impact of an incident. Additionally, by having a vessel’s technical specifications readily available we can reduce the amount of pollution, property loss and, most likely, the total impact of the event on the environment. 

Tell us about the Salvage Academy and its programs. 

SVITZER’s Salvage Academy provides continual training at the Star Center in Dania Beach, Florida. But we also do about 15 training sessions at customers’ facilities around the world. We believe it is important for individuals to know what to do and how to act when there is an incident. While marine incidents are rare, accidents do happen. Whether we are training office staff or bridge personnel, they all need to understand what to do when there is an incident. 

How has OPA 90 impacted the salvage industry? 

First let me say I have nothing but praise for the U.S. government for introducing the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 legislation. It has not only dramatically improved petroleum tanker safety, but it has also had a positive impact on the entire maritime industry. Today, the overall incidence of emergency response has been greatly reduced, and it can be attributed to companies and people being focused on operational procedures and preparedness. Ship operators have pre-appointed emergency response companies and must file response plans and technical information with the appropriate state and federal regulatory bodies.

OPA 90 has also had a positive impact on salvage companies because we have a lot more information about a company’s procedures and vessels. Additionally, the law has allowed salvage companies to build a strong subcontractor base of equipment. 

Can you give us an example of a recent salvage job that was especially challenging?

It would have to be the Rena container vessel grounding off the coast of New Zealand two years ago. While the media ran the event non-stop, for SVITZER our first priority was to get as much of the 1,700 or so tons of fuel oil Rena was carrying off the ship before it could pollute the coastline of New Zealand. The ship had lost power, so maintaining the oil at a warm temperature while pumping it off the ship was very difficult, but we managed to do it.

Our biggest concern was that the ship was grounded on a reef and could be further destroyed by the elements. It was an extremely dangerous situation, so we mobilized a global workforce and flew in more equipment and salvors. We were on the job for more than six months and had about 80 people working at the site. SVITZER received lots of praise, and the New Zealand Herald collectively nominated SVITZER Salvage “Person of the Year.” It was also gratifying to get about 1,000 letters from school children thanking us for a job well done.  

What does the future hold for SVITZER and the salvage industry generally?

There has been a significant trend towards preparedness and preparation in order to mitigate the impact of incidents before they even happen. Today, vessels are much larger and are carrying many more tons of general and hazardous cargoes, so pre-appointing salvors is one of the best trends in the industry. If a giant container ship has an incident, salvors must be prepared to offload the boxes with huge cranes, which means a new level of expertise is required. We are also working on improving the speed with which we remove hazardous materials like bunkers – never compromising safety. 

SVITZER is continually investing in new equipment and innovating our approach to every type of salvage operation. For instance, SVITZER has spent a lot of time and investment working on becoming an LNG salvage specialist, which includes emergency ship-to-ship (STS) transfers of LNG cargoes. We are in consultation with one of the largest LNG operators and have been working closely with them to provide such a specialized service for their fleet.

Do you have any final thoughts to share with our readers?

Well, I think it is very important for vessel operators to prepare and pre-appoint salvors for emergency response because it can save not just time but lives, assets and reputation. Waiting until something happens could delay a response and make the situation even worse. The maritime industry is changing, and we remain optimistic about the efforts being done to prevent incidents. But when incidents do occur, our customers can rest assured that we stand ready to assist.