The Maritime Administration announced that three more of its James River fleet will be moved to delivered to Marine Metals, Brownsville, Tex. The contract is for $3.1 million.
Since announcing plans to have the “Ghost Fleet” at scrapped, the agency has been beset by opposition from environmentalists, who claim that transporting the vessels violates many environmental regulations, as the vessels contain significant amounts of hazardous materials, including PCBs.
The three vessels that are being shipped, the Santa Isabel, the Mormacwave and the American Ranger, are part off a fleet of 60 vessels in the James River fleet that need to be scrapped.
According to reports, the 60 vessels are part of a total of 150 obsolete ships located in Virginia, Texas, California and Alabama that need to be dismantled by September 2006.