Thread: ghost fleet

Originally Posted by Admiral Nelson

I wonder if that is Just Bay Bridge Enterprises (which broke up SS BAY a while ago) under a new name and location.

MARAD does seem to be starting to pay more attention to the reserve fleets outside of Suisun Bay.

It doesn't look like it:

Shipyard that handled 'ghost fleet' moves on | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com

Shipyard that handled 'ghost fleet' moves on

Bay Bridge Enterprises, a small ship-recycling facility that played a big role in dismantling much of the James River Reserve Fleet, also known as the "ghost fleet," has closed its gates and quietly moved away.

Gone, too, are more than 50 jobs at the shipyard, tucked away on a rutted dirt lot in an industrial part of Chesapeake on the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River.

Its closure leaves just one salvage yard on the East Coast certified to break down old, unwanted Navy and cargo ships owned by the U.S. Maritime Administration, an agency spokeswoman said this week. That lone facility, BB Metals Enterprise in Baltimore, opened last year.

Bay Bridge Enterprises is moving to Brownsville, Texas, near the Mexico border, where four other ship-breaking yards are located. It also has taken a new name: Bay Bridge Texas, said Barry Chambers, senior vice president of the new venture.

To be set on 34 acres within the port of Brownsville, Bay Bridge is building a new ship-recycling yard and salvage area. The operation, nearly complete, is expected to employ between 50 and 125 employees, Chambers said by phone from Texas.

The parent company of Bay Bridge, the Adani Group, an energy conglomerate based in India, decided to move from Virginia and start fresh in Texas for multiple reasons, Chambers said: more room to grow, more freedom to build a waterfront facility, and geographically closer to junk ships in California and Texas that the Maritime Administration is focusing its attention and money on these days.

In Chesapeake, "we were a lessee in a small corner of a scrap yard," Chambers said. "Here, we're not in somebody's backyard, and are closer to the action."

Bay Bridge Enterprises opened in 2001, just as the Maritime Administration got serious about removing obsolete vessels from the ghost fleet, a collection of steel dinosaurs dating to World War II anchored in the middle of the James River off Fort Eustis in Newport News.

It won numerous contracts over the next decade to dismantle old ships, pumping out waste oils and fuel, removing their toxic innards such as asbestos and mercury, and salvaging brass and steel components for sale on the metals recycling market.

Adani bought Bay Bridge in 2005, though the yard's Spartan look - no sign announcing its presence, a weathered trailer where managers did business - remained the same. The site was leased to Adani by Sims Metals, which runs a salvage business next door.

Since 2001, 85 ships have left the ghost fleet. About 20 remain today. Work began to dry up, and the yard struggled in recent years as the Obama administration committed to spending money on removing flimsy ships at a reserve fleet near San Francisco Bay.

Ship-breaking is a tough, dirty industry with a checkered past, but Bay Bridge got into trouble just once with state regulators. It agreed to pay more than $9,000 in fines in 2009 for causing about 400 gallons of fuel to spill into the Elizabeth River, records show.

Officials at the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality were not aware that Bay Bridge had closed. Carl Thomas, a state regulator who kept tabs on Bay Bridge's performance, said the company should have called and canceled permits so that officials were not waiting around for required reports.

He said he expects to visit the vacant site later this week.