BROWNSVILLE — The death of decommissioned U.S. Navy ships has helped fuel
the local economy, with tens of thousands of tons of metal harvested from each
vessel.
The latest is the USS Ranger, set to dock at the Port of Brownsville this
afternoon. The storied aircraft carrier is expected to draw crowds to watch the
final stretch of her voyage toward being scrapped — an expanding business for the port.
“All ports have their niches and
one that’s been developed here is the ship recycling industry,” said Eduardo
Campirano, director at the Port of Brownsville. “Once they were called ship
breakers, but now they are ship recyclers and the industry has evolved.”
When at full capacity, five companies at the Port of Brownsville employ
upward of 1,000 workers who slice away ship hulls and haul scrap for resale.
Those jobs typically pay $10 to $15 per hour for the semi-skilled positions
that often require vocational training.
“My understanding is that the quality of the steel that is coming off
those vessels even though they may be 50 or 60 years old is very good,” he
said. “You can imagine what a large bronze (ship) propeller could go for.”
Last year, about 37,000 loaded railcars went into Mexico carrying scrap
for resale, said Nikhil Shah, president of All Star Metals, a local ship
recycler.
Companies will also recycle private barges, old oil platforms, railcars
and automobiles, he said. Bronze and copper also bring much higher prices in
the scrap metal market.
“It’s an important niche that fills a national interest in a safe and
responsible way,” Shah said. “I think that the environmental and safety
regulations have become more stringent and made our industry stronger.”
International Shipbreaking LTD is slated to receive the USS Ranger today.
United Kingdom-based recycling firm European Metals Recycling in 2010
acquired the company, which now operates as a subsidiary.
Robert Berry, founder of International Shipbreaking, still oversees
shipbreaking, with as many as 200 workers who cut away at the steel ship while
it’s still in the water.
“It depends on the ship, but you basically cut it in pieces that your
cranes can lift and you dismantle it in separate parts collecting like metals
together like copper, brass and steel,” Berry said. “When you’re down to a
certain level, you pull it up out of the water.”
Nearly 70 percent of the steel scrapped from ships at the Port of
Brownsville ends up in U.S. steel mills and is repurposed. Most becomes
construction materials, like rebar used in concrete construction.
“The U.S. Navy builds ships every
year so as long as they keep building they’ll keep retiring the old ones,” he
said. “When these ships come in it can mean many millions of dollars for the
local economy, just the payroll is a lot.”
Source: The Monitor. 11 July 2015
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