MARAD Fails to Meet Ghost Fleet Dismantling Deadline
The U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) has admitted that it cannot meet a congressional deadline later this year for removing all junk ships from the James River Reserve Fleet. The cluster of obsolete, mothballed vessels is also known as the "Ghost Fleet." John Jamian, acting director of the agency, maintains that MARAD is making good progress, however. He said that two more unwanted vessels soon will be towed away and scrapped at salvage yards in Chesapeake and Baltimore ? the 50th and 51st ships to be removed from the reserve fleet since early 2001.
"This is an important milestone, an important day," said U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Davis, R-1st District, who appeared at a joint news conference with Jamian at Fort Eustis, just off the James River. As they spoke, they were framed by the aging steel hulks moored in the background. The obsolete ships are said to contain waste fuels, heavy oils, asbestos, lead, toxic PCBs, and other contaminants that, if spilled, could seriously impact the historic James River. Congress approved spending $21 million on the disposal program this year, and President Bush has asked for an additional $26 million for next year.
The latest vessel to leave the fleet is being sold for $76,000 to a domestic shipbreaker. The transaction represents somewhat of a hollow victory for MARAD, as it marks the first time in years that the government will be paid for a junk ship, instead of paying others to accept and process the old hulls. The other ship, the Howard W. Gilmore, will be disposed of in the usual way. Bay Bridge Enterprises, a salvage yard in Chesapeake, won the recycling contract, reportedly worth $742,265, from the government.
The two most recent vessels to depart the fleet will leave 47 others in their wake.
Under a congressional mandate, MARAD was supposed to have safely disposed of all unwanted, obsolete ships by September of 2006. Funding shortfalls are largely to blame for the failure to meet this deadline, says MARAD, but more progress is expected in the months to come.
Other reserve fleets are located in Beaumont, Texas, and in Suisun Bay, California. In all, the Maritime Administration monitors and maintains approximately 120 obsolete vessels, but the James River fleet was deemed to have the oldest and most dangerous of these hulls, officials said. There is hope that future disposal contracts will be driven in part by high steel prices. China's considerable appetite for cheap scrap steel is cited as one example of this belief. Foreign disposal has not been ruled out, but such deals, in the past, have resulted in litigation and controversy and remain unfulfilled.