MarAd seeks ways to dump danger ships in US reserve fleet

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The following was published in the September 11 2001 edition of Lloyds List

MarAd seeks ways to dump danger ships in US reserve fleet By David Osler

THE US Maritime Administration is urgently seeking a way to get rid of 148 decaying government-owned merchant ships by 2006. The vessels are part of the 272 ships in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, based in three locations: Suisun Bay, California; Beaumont, Texas; and Fort Eustis along the James River in Virginia. Many are veterans of the Second World War and the Vietnam and Gulf conflicts, with some of them well over 50 years old.

As a result, they feature construction materials commonly used at that time, included many substances now considered hazardous in the extreme. Asbestos lines the pipes, PCBs coat the wiring, and lead paint covers the walls. The pollutant situation is considered so bad that visitors must sign a release form before boarding the ship.

It has now been judged that they are simply not up to the job of moving military materiel around the world rapidly in the event of an emergency. Moreover, many have deteriorated to the point where they represent an immediate environmental threat. Even leaving them where they are comes with a hefty price tag attached.

MarAd has spent more than $2m in the past three years, simply to clean up spills. Recently it paid $250,000 to remove 1,000 gallons of oil that leaked from the hull of one vessel. New anchor systems installed after moorings were damaged by Hurricane Floyd in 1999 cost $2.5m, while an additional $1.5m went on electrical systems to slow hull corrosion.

Consequently, MarAd is recommending that most of them should go. Before 1994, MarAd was able to get rid of unwanted ships by selling them abroad for scrapping. But this is now no longer possible after the US Environmental Protection Agency banned PCB exports. Congress has now agreed to spend $10m to scrap the ships, and allocated an additional $10m for the next fiscal year.

Yet even sums of this magnitude are small beer, given the estimated $2m it will cost to scrap each vessel. MarAd - concerned by the heavy costs - is seeking alternative solutions to the problem.

-- Rich Marsh (marshr@airmail.net), September 12, 2001


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