Ship recycler ready to expand, seeks Dry Dock 4 at Vallejo's Mare Island

Vallejo's ship dismantling company is expanding to a third Mare Island dry dock, which could mean more work and jobs, officials said this week.

Allied Defense Recycling now occupies two of the former naval shipyard's historic, and mammoth, dry dock structures.

Dry Dock 4, leased to neighboring Mare Island company Cooper Crane through June 30, is significantly shorter than Allied's dry docks 2 and 3.

"We definitely can do more of what we're doing, more of the same, except we won't have to tie up a larger dry dock for a smaller vessel," said company managing operator Jay Anast. "We can take apart parked boats or barges, and we can repair things like parked boats and barges. Where you don't need a 700-foot dry dock -- it's just overkill. It's more appropriate for small, local business, while your bigger dry docks are for your big federal ships."

The dry dock may need some repairs, as its sister dry docks did following years of disuse after the U.S. Navy closed the shipyard in 1995. Anast said how much will be needed won't be known until the company takes over the site next month.

While company applications to the city indicate that the venture intends to expand beyond ship dismantling, so far the bulk of Allied Defense Recycling's resources has gone toward breaking down the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet's mothballed Solon Turman. The Lincoln is waiting in the wings.

In recent years, Allied's expansion had been discussed as an opportunity several times, said Jason Keadjian, spokesman for dry dock owners Lennar Mare Island.

Lennar Mare Island Vice President Tom Sheaff, speaking before the Vallejo Planning Commission earlier this week, said the expansion "takes a big load off us."

"The good news is, ADR, as of Monday of last week (May 30), just expanded into Dry Dock 4," Sheaff said. "Which is great for us because those dry docks are so interconnected from a utility standpoint and from a permit standpoint, we were very happy."

Keadjian said the lease agreement with Allied Defense Recycling for Dry Dock 4 and the area surrounding it was finalized on June 2.

Initially, Allied was required to overcome extensive environmental permitting hurdles to reopen the dry docks, before bidding on federal ship dismantling contracts. The operation was scrutinized for ways it might reduce its impact on fish life, and whether the toxicity of the silt dredged next to the dry dock caisson doors was too great to relocate elsewhere in the Bay.

Early dredging in the Mare Island Strait cleared a path to Dry Dock 4, and only dredging immediately in front of the structure's caisson doors will be needed, Anast said.

City Acting Planning Manager Michelle Hightower said regulatory permitting, including approvals from the city's Planning Division, will be required for the additional dry dock.

"Currently, they are only using a portion of the site near (Dry Dock 4) for storage of equipment for ADR and some of its contractors, while approvals are being obtained," Hightower wrote in an email.

Contact staff writer Jessica A. York at (707) 553-6834 or jyork@timesheraldonline.com.

Source: Times Herald Online. By Jessica A. York. 11 June 2011

http://www.timesheraldonline.com/news/ci_18253467