Urgency of Implementing Fixing Reward Mechanism in Indonesian Salvage Law

Abstract

Salvage is one of the important elements of shipping, it is necessary to assist vessels which are facing danger during its voyage. Salvage nowadays is considered as one of the customary international laws which has been consolidated and formulated over the decades. The International Convention on Salvage 1989 (“Salvage Convention”) is the prevailing convention which contains such salvage regulations that has been recognized by its parties. Fixing reward is one of the provisions of the Salvage Convention, concerning fixing the salvage reward by taking into account the criteria that have been set. However, Indonesia currently has not adopted the fixing reward on its salvage law. The purpose of this article is to determine the urgency of implementing the fixing reward mechanism in Indonesia by raising two research questions, what is the implication of the absence of fixing reward mechanism in Indonesian salvage law, and the urgency of Indonesia to implement fixing reward within its salvage law. Normative juridical is the method of this article, which conducts such relevant studies towards primary and secondary data. As far as the research conducted, the fixing reward plays a pivotal role in determining the appropriate value reward and the apportionment of a reward for salvage service that have been rendered by the salvor. The salvage service occurred under contractual relationship, yet the public regulations and policies serve as guidance for the contractual itself, for instance, the open forms as implemented by several states. The fixing rewards establish a legal certainty for the parties involved in the respect to the salvage awards and apportionment between the parties.