Three more ships leave MarAd’s James River Reserve Fleet
The U.S. Maritime Administration said three more obsolete ships will be removed from the James River Reserve Fleet for scrapping.
The agency awarded three contracts, valued at $3.1 million, to Marine Metals of Brownsville, Texas, to dismantle the “American Banker,” “Mormacmoon,” and “Santa Cruz.”
“During the 1990s, ships in this fleet accumulated due to prolonged inactivity,” said Maritime Administrator William G. Schubert in a statement. “It remains our goal to remove high-priority ships from our fleets as soon as possible.”
The contract with Marine Metals is the first for MarAd this year, but the latest in a series of similar awards made since early last year. Twelve obsolete ships have left the James River in the last 15 months, going to scrap yards in the United Kingdom, Chesapeake, Va., and Brownsville.
According to MarAd, there are 119 vessels available for disposal located in the three fleet sites of the National Defense Reserve Fleet, of which 63 are located in the James River Reserve Fleet in Newport News, Va.