'Ghost Fleet' Side Deal Raises Political Ire
by Joseph McCann, American Metals Market
21 July 2003 (Philadelphia, PA.) –
U.S. vessels more profitable. Rep. Curt Weldon (R., Pa.) and Rep. Solomon Ortiz (D., Texas) revealed Tuesday that Able U.K. Ltd., Teesside, England, was allowed to bid on two unfinished U.S. Navy oilers, as well as the decrepit Ghost Fleet vessels, but U.S. shipbreakers were never told that the two vessels were among those to be sold.
Weldon and scrap industry members allege that the Navy oilers allowed Able U.K. to drastically underbid the competition for Reserve Fleet vessels and win the Marad contract.
When the search for Ghost Fleet recyclers began earlier this year, Marad and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials never toured domestic scrapyards but publicly maintained that international recyclers represented the best avenue for scrapping the aged Naval ships, some of which pose environmental hazards.
Sources within the ship scrapping industry said the two other vessels included in the pending agreement were Navy oilers Benjamin Isherwood and Henry Eckford, both moored on the James River like many of the Ghost Fleet vessels.
Although many of the Ghost Fleet vessels included in the Marad deal are dilapidated, the oilers are barely 15 years old and could be sold on the open market for a substantial profit. Construction work on both vessels was never completed.
Rep. Jo Ann S. Davis (R., Va.) told reporters Tuesday. Davis, who publicly supported the Marad/Able U.K. deal, reportedly was so upset by the revelation that she plans to return a $ 500 campaign contribution submitted last month by Post Remediation Partners (PRP). New York-based PRP brokered the deal between Marad and Able U.K. and originally won the two Navy oilers back in a 1999 auction but never completed the deal.
A final agreement on the Marad contract for Able U.K. to scrap 13 Ghost Fleet vessels is still pending but is expected shortly.
Calls to Marad and PRP were not returned Wednesday.
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