MARAD Touts Removal of Vessels from Reserve Fleet

The U.S. Maritime Administration has announced that it has delivered on its promise to remove all ten “high priority” ships from the James Reserve fleet.

John Jamian, acting Maritime administrator, notes, that “In less than 10 months we followed through on our commitment to getting these ships out of here. With the safe removal of these ships, we will now turn our attention to a new group of aging vessels as we work to dispose of these ships as quickly and safely as possible.”

The recent departures of the Lauderdale and the Mormacmoon to the North American Ship Recycling facility at Sparrows Point, Md., follows through on the promise of the Administration to move the worst ships in the aging fleet out of the river and on to qualified shipyards to be dismantled. Additionally, since 2001 this Administration has successfully removed 35 ships from the James River Reserve fleet, Jamian said.

There are three remaining ‘high-priority’ ships that were not available for disposal as they are on congressional hold or undergoing a historical review process. These ships are the Saugatuck, Hoist and Sphinx.

The James River Reserve Fleet is one of three National Defense Reserve Fleet anchorage sites. The NDRF is maintained by MARAD for the maintenance of readiness assets, including vessels owned or acquired by the United States Government that are determined to be of value for national defense purposes. When vessels are no longer considered militarily useful, MARAD arranges for their responsible disposal or disposition.