Page 19: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (July 2000)

(Continued from page 16) apiece for the Navy. The awards were made to Baltimore Marine Industries,

Inc., of Baltimore, Md.; International

Shipbreaking Limited, of Brownsville,

Texas; Ship Dismantling & Recycling

Joint Venture (of New Hampshire and

Virginia); and Metro Machine Corp. of

Norfolk, Va. The Navy paid these com- panies between $1.8 million and $3.8 million apiece for the disposal of four decommissioned frigates. The proceeds from the sale of the scrap is to be credit- ed toward the value of the contract. If the scrapping at these facilities is suc- cessful, they could receive other con- tracts for scrapping the remaining 55 vessels in the Navy Inactive Fleet desig- nated for scrapping.

MarAd is required to dispose of more than 100 obsolete vessels by September 30, 2001, a deadline that the agency rec- ognizes it cannot meet. However, unlike the Navy, to date, MarAd has not been given the financial resources or the authority to pay U.S. yards for scrap- ping. Most MarAd ships are being bro- ken up in Brownsville, TX, although one company recently defaulted on its contract. In the meantime, MarAd has had to expend considerable funds to maintain the ships in its Reserve Fleet sites located in the James River, Vir- ginia, Suisun Bay, California, and Beau- mont, Texas. A report by the Inspector

General of the Department of Trans- portation, issued in March 2000, recom- mended that MarAd seek new legisla- tive authority comparable to the Navy's and extend the deadline for scrapping its remaining ships. MarAd has requested an extension to 2006.

International Attention

The U.S. is not alone in examining its ship disposal practices. Heightened scrutiny by Greenpeace, the Basel

Action Network (BAN), and the Inter- national Federation of Transport Work- ers, among others, is forcing internation- al organizations as well as foreign scrap- ping nations to reexamine their laws and practices. As noted above, the majority of scrapping in recent years has taken place in India, Bangladesh, and Pak- istan, although China is also scrapping foreign ships.

Greenpeace and BAN would prefer to have ship scrapping controlled under the

Basel Convention, a regime that regu- lates the transboundary movement of hazardous waste. Signatories to the

Basel Convention disagree on whether the release of hazardous waste from the dismantling of a ship is itself a practice regulated under the Basel Convention.

The U.S. has signed but not yet ratified the Basel Convention, but is a partici- pant in the Basel Convention discus- sions. The U.S., and most other inter- ested maritime nations, prefer to have ship scrapping reviewed by the Interna- tional Maritime Organization (IMO), headquartered in London, and made up of most shipping nations. In March 2000, the IMO agreed to have its Marine

Environment Protection Committee look at current practices in shipbreak- ing, including the possibility of having all toxic substances removed before the scrapping takes place. A Correspon- dence Group, under the leadership of

Bangladesh, is undertaking this review. (Continued on page 35)

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