|
Information on Ship Disposal
Vandenberg leaves the James River
Reserve Fleet, March 30, 2007, on its way to becoming an
artificial reef.
The Maritime Administration maintains the National
Defense Reserve Fleet as a reserve of ships for defense
and national emergencies. There are three fleet sites:
the James River Reserve Fleet at Fort Eustis, Va.; the
Beaumont Reserve Fleet in Beaumont, Texas; and the
Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet at Benicia, Calif. When
ships are no longer considered useful for defense or aid
missions, the Maritime Administration arranges for their
responsible disposal.
The Maritime Administration uses several
different methods for disposing of ships. The most
frequently used is recycling, which is carried out in
accordance with
recycling guidelines set forward by the
Environmental Protection Agency.
Link to recycling
guidelines. Ships may also
be transferred to states, to be cleaned for artificial
reefs. The Maritime Administration was part of a
team that developed
best management practices for
artificial reefing. Ships may
also be donated to qualified organizations:
Ship Donation Program
Update on the Ship Disposal Program.
In February 2007, the Maritime Administrator temporarily
suspended the issuance of new ship disposal contracts.
That suspension has ended at the James River and
Beaumont fleets, but remains in effect at the Suisun Bay
site.
More.
Background
on the National Defense Reserve Fleet.
The Maritime Administration periodically
issues a report to Congress on the progress of the ship
disposal program.
January 2007 Report to
Congress.
The
Maritime Administration issues a
listing of the NDRF each month, showing numbers and
locations of ships, plus information on the ship types
and the dates they were built.
Inventory
For information on
the contracting process for ship disposal, check MARAD's
Virtual Office of Acquisition.
Ship disposal
presents many challenges due to the complexity of the
ships themselves, environmental and safety issues,
uncertainties in the domestic industrial base, and a
changing international consensus on ship disposal. An
excellent source of background on the factors involved
in ship disposal is the
Interagency Report on Ship Scrapping. Although the report was issued in
1998, the background it gives on the issue is still
useful.
|
