Petaluma firm wins federal contracts to recycle two Ghost Fleet ships from Suisun Bay

WASHINGTON, DC – The goal of scrapping ships at Mare Island and creating jobs in Vallejo that come with such a venture has finally taken hold. Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez) announced today that a federal contract has been awarded for the first time to dismantle and recycle two Suisun Bay reserve fleet ships at Mare Island.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) awarded the contracts to Allied Defense Recycling (ADR) of Petaluma, California after the company successfully negotiated the appropriate permits to dismantle ships at Mare Island. The contract is to dismantle two of the dozens of ships – many dating back to WWII -- that have been anchored in Suisun Bay for decades. The two ships are the SS Solon Turman and the SS President.

“Scrapping and recycling these ghost ships in Vallejo is a tremendous boost to our community and is the right step forward for removing the remaining obsolete ships from Suisun Bay,” Miller said of the announcement. “Our goal has always been to remove the environmentally hazardous ships from the Bay. And we’ve worked diligently with local groups and elected officials so that we create jobs here in Vallejo.

“I appreciate the Obama Administration’s sustained commitment to removing the corroding fleet from Suisun Bay. Ship removals had stalled under the Bush Administration, but Obama Administration officials have already removed eleven of the corroding vessels. I also thank the many local and federal agencies who worked together to find this solution,” Miller added.

“The Obama Administration is running full-speed ahead in its commitment to cleaning up the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “These contracts will help the local economy while advancing our mission of maintaining the Fleet in a safe and environmentally-sound manner.”

According to MARAD, the ADR facilities at Mare Island will be the first West Coast ship recycling facility. MARAD currently cleans its obsolete ships before removal from the Bay area and tows them 5,000 miles through the Panama Canal to MARAD-approved recycling facilities located along the Gulf or Atlantic coasts. ADR will be able to recycle the ships safely contained within a drydock, which will result in more competitive recycling costs and reduced delays associated with the process of cleaning and recycling ships in separate facilities. Also, ADR’s ship recycling facility adds additional ship recycling capacity to expedite the removal of the remaining Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet non-retention vessels. MARAD awarded the contracts to ADR in a non-competitive solicitation.

In addition, MARAD noted that ADR is working to complete the dredging that has been approved, which is necessary to allow the two ships to be placed into the graving drydocks where they will be dismantled. ADR is the first MARAD-approved facility that will dismantle vessels within the containment of a drydock. After the dredging is completed and the drydocks are operational, ADR will take delivery of the ships from the Suisun Bay Retention Fleet (SBRF) in late January 2011 for the vessel SS President and in early March 2011 for the vessel SS Solon Turman. The SS Solon Turman and the SS President are among the forty-six ships slated for disposal that remain in the SBRF.