[Peetwo]

Captain's Log 22.01.17: Private search & recovery methodology?

Via MC's 7th Arc:

Malaysia’s MH370 Private Search Incentive(s)
Posted on January 21, 2017 by Mike Chillit

Should Malaysia Provide Private Search Incentives?

• Yes 100%, 9 votes
  
  9 votes 100%
  9 votes - 100% of all votes
  
• No 0%, 0 votes
  
  0 votes
  0 votes - 0% of all votes
  

Should A Malaysia-Sponsored Search Incentive:

• Cover all costs PLUS a bonus or reward 63%, 10 votes
  
  10 votes 63%
  10 votes - 63% of all votes
  
• Include a paid private physical search of all Islands for debris 19%, 3 votes
  
  3 votes 19%
  3 votes - 19% of all votes
  
• Cover all costs for finding the fuselage 19%, 3 votes
  
  3 votes 19%
  3 votes - 19% of all votes
  
• Partial costs for finding the fuselage 0%, 0 votes
  
  0 votes
  0 votes - 0% of all votes
  

Total Votes: 16

Voters:11

Although the uptake of Chillit's latest opinion poll is certainly underwhelming, the premise of the poll does pose some interesting questions about firstly the veracity/sincerity of the Malaysian reward offer and how best to provide incentives for private entities to conduct a search and recovery mission for MH370.

This is what has been reported so far on the Malaysian reward incentive: Reference Reuters via ABC News - Malaysia to offer reward for private, successful attempts to find missing Flight MH370:

..Malaysian Deputy Transport Minister Abdul Aziz Kaprawi said the Government was open to credible private companies searching for it, and would reward any that found its fuselage.

"All costs must be borne by them. We will only reward them if they are successful," Mr Abdul Aziz said.

He said the size of the reward had not been decided. Any company intending to search should contact the government, and a decision would then be made on the reward, he said...

"We can't proceed until there is new evidence, but if there are credible companies that want to take on the search, then why not?" he said.

        
This is what fellow MH370 follower Pixie had to say about the above weasel words of Abdul Aziz:

..One of the most half-hearted & mean-spirited offers ever made.. which has been #Malaysia's attitude towards #MH370 throughout...

  
On the subject of the Malaysian reward offer, a quick review of social media and MH370 related blogs etc. the general consensus pretty well matches the view of Pixie. That is KL are just taking the Mickey Bliss, comfortable in the knowledge that there would be very few private firms willing to take on such a search without a guarantee of some sort of cost recovery on top of a significant reward incentive...

So if we put aside the Malaysian reward offer as neither realistic or genuine; is their another way to provide incentive for a private company or conglomerate to realistically continue with the search?

Now although the MH370 is technically a search & recovery operation, why would it not be possible to have a version of a Lloyds Open Form (LOF) contract drawn up? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd's_Open_Form

A Lloyd's Open Form, formally Lloyd's Standard Form of Salvage Agreement, but more commonly referred to as LOF, is a standard legal document for a proposed marine salvage operation. The two-page contract is published by Lloyd's of London. It is called "open" because it is literally open, with no amount of money being stipulated for the salvage job: the sum to be paid is determined later in London by a professional arbitrator. At the top of page one, beneath the title "Salvage Agreement" is a statement of the contract's fundamental premise. "NO CURE – NO PAY". The form originated in the late 19th century and is the most common such form of international salvage agreement.[1]

The arbitrator, who is invariably a Queen's Counsel practising at the Admiralty Bar, follows the English law of civil salvage, in determining the salvage award. The value of the ship, its cargo and freight at risk are taken into account when the arbitrator decides what the award should be, together with the extent of the dangers and the difficulty in effecting the salvage.

Definitely not my area but perhaps if Lloyds or a similar insurance firm were willing to take it on, in the form of a LOF contract, maybe the additional cost recovery component could be made in exchange for proprietary rights to all other findings e.g other ship wrecks, shipping containers, fishing shoals or geoscience gas/oil/mineral discoveries - just saying..

MTF...P2