The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) announced that it has awarded two ship scrapping contracts for $3.1 million to Allied Defense Recycling of Petaluma, Calif. The contract calls for the company to clean and recycle two Suisun Bay (California) Reserve Fleet ships, the SS Solon Turman and the SS President. The two ships are scheduled to be towed from Suisun Bay in California to the former Mare Island, Calif., naval shipyard facility for recycling in December.
“This is further evidence of our commitment to clean up Suisun Bay,” says David Matsuda, MARAD’s administrator. “The Mare Island recycling facility will bolster our efforts to remove obsolete ships and reduce environmental risks to the Bay.”
MARAD currently cleans the hulls of obsolete ships before towing them nearly 5,000 miles through the Panama Canal to recycling facilities on the Gulf of Mexico or Atlantic coast.
Allied Defense Recycling, using the former Mare Island Naval Shipyard, will recycle the ships avoiding the lengthy tow to ship recyclers in other areas.