Ship Scrapping Jobs Coming to Mare Island
A Petaluma company has been awarded a $3.1 million federal contract for a ship dismantling project slated for Mare Island, the U.S. Maritime Administration announced Tuesday.
Under the contract, the SS Solon Turman and SS President of the Maritime Administration's Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet will be the first ships scrapped in the Bay Area.
The two obsolete federal reserve ships could be delivered to two of the former naval shipyard's dry docks as early as next month. But the Mare Island Strait must be dredged first. Dredging will begin soon after the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission grants a project permit, said Jay Anast, Allied Defense Recycling business operations director. 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.
"If (the commission) gave us notice to proceed today, you would see actual silt coming from the water within 48 hours," Anast said, adding that, "We're very happy and proud that our hard work has led to (these contracts)."
It was not immediately known when the commission may act on the permit request.
Anast said that the company has been preparing for the last month to dredge the strait in anticipation of the ship scrapping. Both mothballed vessels are 1960s-era cargo ships.
Allied Defense Recycling has a tight deadline to begin dredging the strait by year's end or face waiting another year.
A 2008 study estimated that 102,000 cubic yards of silt needed to be removed. In the two years since the study, 60,000 more cubic yards has accumulated, Anast said.
The Maritime Administration offered Allied Defense Recycling a contract without competition from other ship recyclers.
The federal agency faces the task of ridding Suisun Bay of 47 vessels by 2017.
The Maritime Administration justified the so-called "no-bid contract" with Allied Defense Recycling by citing delays and funding issues in its partnership with a Bay Area ship-cleaning facility that prepares ships for dismantling outside the area.
The obsolete vessels are moored off Benicia's shore in Suisun Bay, just 10 miles from Mare Island. In the past year, 11 vessels have been towed to Texas, some 5,000 miles around the Panama Canal, for dismantling.
A year ago, the Vallejo Planning Commission gave its blessing to the project, with plans to employ 60 to 120 people, dredge the Mare Island Strait, remove several buildings surrounding the docks and build two parking lots and a public overlook area.
"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," Rep. George Miller, D-Solano, said in a written statement.
The contract announced Tuesday is only for the two ships. How Allied Defense Recycling might fare when bidding becomes competitive for dismantling the remaining mothballed vessels has not been determined.
For more information on Allied Defense Recycling, which also does business as California Dry Dock Solutions, visit http://www.californiadrydock.com/.
Source: By Jessica A. York / Times-Herald, Vallejo
http://www.thereporter.com/ci_16571681
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