MARAD 30-03
Contact: Robyn Boerstling
Friday, November 07, 2003
Tel.: (202) 366-5807

The Mormacdawn left the James River Reserve Fleet (JRRF) today, to be towed to the ESCO Marine facility in Brownsville, Texas, where it will be dismantled. The Mormacdawn, a freighter built in 1946, is the latest in a series of obsolete ships to leave the fleet in the past month.

The James River Reserve Fleet is maintained by the Maritime Administration (MARAD), part of the U.S. Department of Transportation. For the past 10 years, very few ships left the fleet, but MARAD has recently developed an aggressive plan to remove high-priority vessels. Since September, eight ships, including the vessel towed today, have been removed from the fleet. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta praised the combination of determination by the Bush Administration and a long-awaited appropriation from Congress that made it possible for the MARAD to move the ships out.

"As stewards of the environment, the responsible disposal of obsolete ships is a high priority," said Secretary Mineta. "We are glad to see a steady stream of obsolete ships leaving the fleet. This is good for the environment and good for the economy."

Maritime Administrator Captain William G. Schubert added, "This is the first time in 10 years we've been able to dispose of ships at this rate, and the first time we've had the ability to take important steps toward solving this problem."

So far this year, the U.S. Maritime Administration has awarded the following contracts for removal of ships from its fleet:

• ESCO Marine of Brownsville, Texas: one ship, $778,837.
• Marine Metals of Brownsville, Texas, was awarded a contract for one ship, $414,768, and it has also dismantled another ship, for which it was awarded a contract in 2002. 
• Post-Service Remediation Partners (PRP) of New York, New York (now a subsidiary of AbleUK): 15 ships, $14,846,338.
• Bay Bridge Enterprises of Chesapeake, Virginia, was awarded contracts for five ships, $2,763,082.
• Resolve Marine Group, Port Everglade, Florida, was awarded a contract for one ship, the Albert E. Watts, located in Mobile Bay, Alabama, $3,465,779. 
• International Shipbreaking, LTD, of Brownsville, Texas: one ship, $1,379,846.

In addition, one ship has been turned over to the U.S. Navy for its SINKEX program.

To date, twenty-five ships either have been removed or are scheduled for removal from MARAD's fleet this year, 24 of them from the James River Reserve Fleet. MARAD is acting on a statutory deadline of Sept. 30, 2006, to dispose of these obsolete ships in a manner that provides the best value to the government and without predisposition for foreign or domestic facilities.