Four ships from the James River Reserve Fleet were sold:
' Kalamazoo, a 1973-built tanker to Esco Marine Inc., of Brownsville, Texas, for $1.5 million.
' Truckee, a 1955-built tanker to Bay Bridge Enterprises, L.L.C., of Chesapeake, Va., for $1.2 million.
' Nitro, a 1957-built Navy ammunition ship to Esco for $446,726.
' Rigel, a 1955-built breakbulk freighter to All-Star Metals, L.L.C., of Brownsville, Texas. for $469,626.
Also, Gulf Merchant, a 1964-built breakbulk freighter that is moored at the Beaumont Reserve Fleet, was sold to Esco for $476,726.
MarAd said the sales stand in contrast to most ship disposal contracts in recent years, which have involved the federal government paying to have its obsolete ships recycled.
It explained that high worldwide prices for scrap steel have made such ships more valuable to recyclers, who sell the steel and other materials recovered from the ships.
Since the beginning of fiscal year 2001, the Maritime Administration has awarded contracts to recycle 120 ships from all of its fleet sites; 26 of those contracts have been sales.
| Connaughton |
Maritime Administrator Sean T. Connaughton said, “Transactions such as these benefit the taxpayers. Each time the federal government moves an obsolete ship out of storage, we make another important contribution toward maintaining local ecosystems. With the sale of these vessels, we now have fewer than 30 ships remaining to be disposed in the James River fleet, and fewer than 20 in our Beaumont fleet.”
