Bay Bridge Enterprises News

According to a report from the Contra Costa Times, Ship recycling facilities in Texas and Virginia have been awarded dismantling contracts for three more Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet mothball vessels. Esco Marine, of Brownsville, Texas, was given the award to recycle the SS Dawn for about $551,000 and the USNS H.H. Hess for about $452,000. The SS Bay's $397,000 dismantling contract, has been awarded to the Bay Bridge Enterprises in Chesapeake, Va. (Source: Contra Costa Times)

The U. S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration has awarded contracts to recycle two more of the obsolete government-owned ships, which are currently moored in the James River Reserve Fleet (JRRF) in Virginia. The two ships being recycled are the Escape and the Cape Cod. These two vessels will be the 83rd and 84th ships to leave the JRRF since 2001. The Escape (ARS-6) was built as a Navy rescue ship in 1942 by Basalt Rock Co. in Napa, Calif. The vessel supported the nation's "Mercury" manned spaceflight program in the early 1960s. The Escape will be recycled at Bay Bridge Enterprises, LLC, of Chesapeake, Va., at a cost to the federal government of $115,200. The Cape Cod (AK-5041) was built as a break-bulk cargo ship in 1962 by Bethlehem Steel in Sparrows Point, Md.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration has sold a ship for recycling to Bay Bridge Enterprises of Chesapeake, Va. The Milwaukee, an AOR2-class oiler built in 1969 at the General Dynamics shipyard in Quincy, Mass, brought a purchase price of $56,410. “Even with the recent drop in worldwide scrap steel prices, we continue to move obsolete ships out of the James River,” said Maritime Administrator Sean T. Connaughton, noting that the departure of Milwaukee will bring to 78 the number of ships removed from the James River site at Fort Eustis since January 1, 2001. The purchase contract for Milwaukee means that there will soon be only 25 obsolete ships left at the site without contracts for disposal.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration announced today that it has sold two obsolete ships to American salvage companies for more than $1 million each. The sale of these two vessels from the James River Reserve Fleet (JRRF) near Fort Eustis, Va., each exceed the agency’s ship-disposal program’s recent record-setting price fetched by the sale of the Adonis, which last March sold for $1,151,727. Agency contracting officials report that the has been sold to Esco Marine, Inc., of , , for $1,465,726; and the Truckee has been sold to Bay Bridge Enterprises, L.L.C., of , for $1,231,328. Three other obsolete government-owned ships are also being sold for a combined price of nearly $1.5 million.

Two government ships, currently moored at a shipyard near Baltimore, Md., will be recycled at the Bay Bridge Enterprises facility in Chesapeake, Va., under the terms of contracts announced today by the Maritime Administration. Both are World War II-era ships, formerly anchored in the James River Reserve Fleet in Newport News, Va. Bay Bridge will receive $95,000 to dismantle the Hoist, and $695,000 to dismantle the Sphinx. Both ships were originally awarded to North American Ship Recycling, Inc. Those contracts were terminated by the Maritime Administration after notification by North American Ship Recycling, Inc. that the company had terminated all operations at the Sparrows Point Shipyard.

By Joan M. Bondareff and Charles T. In 2001, Congress directed the Maritime Administration (MarAd) to dispose of all obsolete vessels in its inventory by September 30, 2006, and to do so "in the manner that provides the best value to the Government." At present, MarAd has 104 non-retention ships not under contract in three locations around the country-James River Reserve Fleet in Virginia, Beaumont Reserve Fleet in Texas, and Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet in California. MarAd is using a variety of ship disposal options, which include domestic and foreign dismantling/recycling to accomplish this directive. Both have been controversial and foreign scrapping has prompted litigation. This article describes what MarAd is doing and what laws are implicated in this mission. The U.S.

The Maritime Administration (MARAD) has awarded new contracts to dismantle two ships from the James River Reserve Fleet at Fort Eustis, VA, the agency announced today. The work will go to Bay Bridge Enterprises, LLC, of Chesapeake, VA. The two ships will bring to 14 the number of ships that have left the James River site for disposal in the past year, and to 41 the number that have left since January of 2001. Bay Bridge Enterprises, which has dismantled six other ships for MARAD in the past two years, was awarded two contracts: one to dismantle the Sunbird, for $85,920, and another to scrap the Mizar, for $243,900. The Sunbird, a Chanticleer-class submarine rescue ship, was built in Savannah, GA and launched in April 1946.

The fates of six ships from the James River Reserve Fleet are in limbo after a Maryland salvage yard that was supposed to scrap the vessels abruptly closed and its owners disappeared. North American Ship Recycling Inc., near Baltimore, won federal contracts in August worth $2.1m to dispose of the government-owned dinosaurs. But the yard, which opened in 2004 amid much fanfare, including a celebratory speech from then-U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta, shut down without notice sometime last month, leaving behind two of the Virginia "ghost fleet" ships and plenty of questions. To protect against a fuel spill, government-hired crews have since installed rubber booms around the two abandoned ships…

The State is scheduled to be towed from the James River Reserve Fleet on, July 18. It will be the 59th ship to leave the James River site since January 1, 2001. The State was formerly a training ship for the State University of New York Maritime College, and was known then as the Empire State V. Before that, it was a troop carrier, the USNS Barrett. It will be recycled at the Bay Bridge Enterprises facility in Chesapeake, Va. The State is expected to pass under the James River Bridge approximately two hours after the departure. However, be advised that such times vary widely depending on weather and other conditions.

The Vulcan is scheduled to be towed from the James River Reserve Fleet on Tuesday, December 19th. It will be the 54th ship to leave the James River site for recycling since January 1, 2001. The Vulcan, a former Navy repair ship built in 1941, which will leave the James River site to be dismantled at Bay Bridge Enterprises, LLC, of Chesapeake, Va., under the terms of a contract worth $494,000. The Vulcan has a small niche in Naval history. Until 1978, the only Navy ships to carry women on duty were hospital ships. That year, the Vulcan became the first non-hospital Navy ship to carry women on active duty. The Vulcan is expected to pass under the James River Bridge approximately two hours after the departure.

Five ships moored in Virginia, California, and Texas will be headed to recycling yards under contracts announced today by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration. Two of the ships are from the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet in Benicia, Calif.; two are from the Beaumont Reserve Fleet in Texas; and one is from the James River Reserve Fleet in Newport News, Va. Maritime Administrator Sean T. Connaughton siad that plans worked out with Congress called for the removal of at least 13 ships from the fleet sites in 2006, and that the agency has almost doubled that number, removing 25. The ships scheduled for recycling include the Vulcan…

MarAd will pay Bay Bridge Enterprises $494,000 to remove the Vulcan and tow it to its Chesapeake salvage yard on the Elizabeth River within 45 days. The Vulcan is a former Navy repair ship built in 1941. The Vulcan will be recycled for steel. The company will also remove and dispose of waste fuels and other potential pollutants on the ship. Bay Bridge Enterprises has gotten several contracts to scrap Ghost Fleet ships from the Maritime Administration.

The Daily Press has reported that MarAd is scheduled to tow away another obsolete ship from the James River Reserve Fleet, which sits off the coast of Newport News, Va. The Saugatuck is a former Navy oil refueling vessel built in 1942. It's the 52nd ship to leave the fleet since 2001. Bay Bridge Enterprises in Chesapeake will dismantle the ship. Source: Daily Press

According to the News-Times, San Francisco, just a brief distance from Suisun Bay, is where the Ghost Fleet vessels are located that Bay Bridge Enterprises wants to bring to Newport for shipbreaking. It is a much larger city than Newport, with its own industrial areas. Why can't those vessels be taken apart there or elsewhere in the Bay Area, several Newport residents have asked, instead of in Oregon? There are two old U.S. Navy shipyards in the Bay Area, but both are closed down. One is the old Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard in southeastern San Francisco, on 638 acres of waterfront. In the mid-1950s, it employed 8,500 civilians in building and repairing ships. But, according to a FAS Military Analysis Network website article, it ceased operations in 1974.

The Maritime Administration (MARAD) announced four new disposal contracts for obsolete ships in its National Defense Reserve Fleet. Two of the ships are in the James River Reserve Fleet in Virginia, and two are in the Suisun Bay near San Francisco, CA. Three of the ships will be dismantled in Brownsville, TX, and one in Chesapeake, VA. “Our ship disposal policy of ‘worst first’ has worked for us,” said Deputy Maritime Administrator John Jamian. “We have cleared out the ships in the worst condition, most of which were in the James River. The Santa Lucia, a 1966-vintage cargo ship, currently in the James River site, will be towed to the Marine Metal facility in Brownsville…