Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Over Ship Breaking Procedure

A U.S. District Judge has thrown out a lawsuit challenging a contract to ship vessels from the James River Reserve fleet to Able UK, a ship dismantling firm in the United Kingdom.

The company had received a number of the vessels before a number of environmental groups filed the suit to ban the shipment of the vessels across the Atlantic to Able UK. The Sierra Club and the Basel Action Network had filed the suit. The judge in the case had dismissed the suit

The ruling dismissed opposition from environmentalists to plans by the US Maritime Administration to send obsolete vessels overseas for dismantling.

According to published reports the ruling will allow nine vessels in the fleet to depart for the UK by this summer.

MARAD is under a legislative deadline to complete the dispersion of the James River fleet by next September. While the agency has been shipping part of the fleet to a number of locations in the United States, as well as several to England, many critics say it is unlikely that the agency will be able to complete the project by next September. The Government Accountability Office expresses concern that the deadline will not be met.

According to the Viginian-Pilot, the program “has relied almost entirely on an inappropriate procurement method which has lacked transparency.”