Ghost Fleet News

Austal USA Advanced Technologies is working with the US Navy on technical solutions that will power the next-gen of navy assets. Don Hairston recently took the helm of the AAT team, and discusses how additive manufacturing and artificial intelligence are powering the future of naval asset design, construction and lifecycle maintenance.Don, what specifically attracted you to the position as GM of Austal USA Advanced Technologies?I liked Austal USA as an up-and-comer; it offers tremendous growth opportunities.

U.S. penalties on shippers transporting Russian oil in breach of the G7's price cap could push more Russian cargoes onto vessels referred to as the ghost fleet and away from mainstream tankers, shipping sources and analysts told Reuters.The cap bans Western companies from providing maritime services for Russian seaborne oil exports sold above $60 a barrel.It was designed to keep oil flowing to markets while reducing Russia's energy earnings that it can use to finance its war on Ukraine…

The U.S. on Thursday imposed the first sanctions on owners of tankers carrying Russian oil above the G7 price cap of $60 a barrel, one based in Turkey and one in the United Arab Emirates, in an effort to close loopholes on the mechanism designed to punish Moscow for the war in Ukraine.The U.S., other G7 countries and Australia imposed the cap last year, seeking to reduce Russia's revenues from seaborne oil exports as part of sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine.The cap bans Western companies from providing maritime services, including insurance, finance and shipping, for Russian seaborne oil exports sold above $60 a barrel, while seeking to keep oil flowing to markets. Caps also were imposed on Russian fuel exports.U.S.

Uncrewed surface vessels (USVs), automated vessels, maritime autonomous surface ships (MASS), remote controlled vessels, and the employment of artificial intelligence and smart marine technology to navigate and operate civilian and military vessels have created a lively debate over utilizing and regulating such technology. Recent articles addressing artificial intelligence (AI) have questioned the value of experience and intuition versus computed logic based upon data and logarithmic differentiations.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has released draft plans for proposed national marine sanctuaries in Wisconsin and Maryland that would aim to protect nationally significant shipwrecks, including those from the 1800s, World War I and other maritime battlegrounds. The sanctuaries were originally proposed to NOAA in 2014, and if created would be the first since 2000. In Wisconsin, NOAA is proposing to designate a 1,075-square-mile area of Lake Michigan adjacent to Manitowoc…

PSX ONE coating restores ‘Battleship of Presidents,’ now an interactive naval museum. The USS Iowa protected America for nearly 50 years. Now PSX® ONE coating, an advanced marine coating introduced last year by PPG Industries, is protecting the ship. Known as the “World’s Greatest Naval Ship” and the “Big Stick,” the 887-foot-long, 45,000-ton USS Iowa was first deployed in 1943. It is also called the “Battleship of Presidents” because it hosted more visits by U.S. presidents than any ship of its kind, including its historic escort of Franklin D.

Following years of aging in the San Francisco Bay area’s ghost fleet, the 887-foot long ship that once carried President Franklin Roosevelt to a World War II summit to meet with Churchill, Stalin and Chiang Kai Shek is coming to life once again as it is being prepared for what is most likely its final voyage. Firing its 16-inch guns in the Arabian Sea, the battleship Iowa shuddered. As the sky turned orange, a blast of heat from the massive guns washed over the ship. This was the Iowa of the late 1980s…

The U.S. Maritime Administration (MarAd) recently awarded a contract for the disposal of obsolete ships in the James River Reserve Fleet. Post-Service Remediation Partners (PRP) of New York will be awarded a payment of $14.8 million to remove a total of 15 ships from the James River Reserve Fleet. This is the largest removal of obsolete ships in a single year from the National Defense Reserve Fleet since 1993. "As stewards of the environment, the responsible disposal of obsolete ships is a high priority for the Department of Transportation," said U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta. The PRP award was the result of a negotiated Program Research and Development Announcement (PRDA) proposal that offered the removal of fifteen ships.

The National Defense Reserve Fleet will remain in the James River in southeastern Virginia, after a federal judge blocked the ships from being towed to the U.K. where they are slated to be dismantled. The 1940s-built Canisteo and Caloosahatchoo, were the first of the 13 ships scheduled to leave today for their scrapping destination at Teesside, England where AbleUK would dismantle the ships and dispose of the hazardous materials. The ships, dubbed the Ghost Fleet, contain up to 100 tons of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) as well as significant quantities of asbestos and fuel oil. Environmental groups urged Judge Rosemary M. Collyer to block the scheduled towing of the vessels, stating that the agency responsible for the ships failed to follow environmental regulations.

The first two of 13 Ghost Fleet ships are leaving Virginia as part of the four ship pilot program as authorized by Congress. The plan to export 13 ships from the James River Reserve Fleet to the AbleUK facility in Teesside, England is environmentally responsible and fiscally sound according to a satement released by MARAD, the agency responsible for the ships. In a ruling last week, a federal judge placed a temporary restraining order, blocking the nine remaining ships from leaving the James River to be towed to England for dismantling. AbleUK, the company who will dismantle ths ships in Teesside, England, has agreed to a contract modification as a result of last week's Temporary Restraining Order, issued by the U.S.

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 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…

According to the Daily Press, MarAd has lifted a moratorium on the disposal of ships in the James River Reserve Fleet, clearing the way for more of the rusting ships in the ghost fleet to be removed. The agency had put a temporary freeze on ship disposal last month while state agencies nationwide disputed how the ship hulls are cleaned. The environmental dispute is holding up disposal work in California and Texas, but Virginia officials have let the work proceed. Since last year, the Coast Guard has required that ship hulls be brushed to remove marine growth that may have accumulated before it is towed to foreign waters. Some complained the process could remove lead paint or decayed metals that end up in the water.

There won't be any Ghost Fleet ships towed out of the James River next year. MarAd, which oversees the Virginia's James River Reserve Fleet, says the most serious environmental threats have been removed, so it won't spend money next year to remove the 44 rusting ships that are still there. MarAd will focus on disposing of ships in California and Texas instead. The ships anchored off Fort Eustis are contaminated with asbestos and cancer-causing P-C-Bs. Local and state officials want to dispose of the ships as soon as possible, fearing the environmental damage that could unfold with severe weather such as a hurricane. About 55 ships have been removed from the James River fleet since 2002. Source: Daily Press

A historic nuclear-powered ship that probably attracted more barnacles than tourists while serving as a floating museum off Mount Pleasant has completed the first leg of its rehabilitation. But the next phase of work won't take place in the Lowcountry, as federal officials had once considered. The NS Savannah, the world's first nuclear-powered cargo and passenger vessel, is being restored, possibly for its second stint as a floating museum, according to its owner, MarAd. Colonna's Shipyard in Norfolk, Va., recently completed an initial $995,000 cleanup and renovation of the 596-foot ship, which was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1991, when it was still part of the naval museum at state-owned Patriots Point in Mount Pleasant.

It has been a troop carrier, a missile-tracking ship, and a starred in a Hollywood movie. Now the General Hoyt S. Vandenberg will become an artificial reef off Key West, Fla. Maritime Administrator Sean T. Connaughton approved the transfer of the Vandenberg to the state of Florida, which plans to turn the 63-year old vessel into an artificial reef later this year. “Reefing is an excellent way to dispose of our obsolete ships,” said Connaughton. "It is good for the economy, good for the environment, and a great deal for U.S. The approval clears the way for the ship to be cleaned and sunk for a reef. The Vandenberg will join other ships of the Maritime Administration’s National Defense Reserve Fleet being used in the Maritime Administration's Artificial Reefing Program: the Texas Clipper I…

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 Orion, an obsolete Navy repair vessel built in 1943, is scheduled to depart on July 27 from the James River Reserve Fleet off Newport News. The Daily Press reported that the U.S. Maritime Administration expects to tow away the vessel at 9:30 a.m. It should pass under the James River Bridge about two hours later, depending on weather conditions. The Orion will be dismantled by North American Ship Recycling in Baltimore. It is the 53rd ship to leave the ghost fleet since 2001. (Source: Daily Press)

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.

A group of about 129 old ships, collectively known as the Ghost Fleet, which sit idle in a half-dozen ports around the U.S maintained by the U. S. Navy and the U. S. Maritime Administration, or MarAd, have become a target for the industry known as shipbreaking. All but shut down for a few years in the late 1990s amid environmental concerns, the shipbreaking business in the United States is making a comeback. It is being fueled by a convergence of government action with developments in the global steel, energy and freight industries. The driving force is the steel business, which is booming amid demand from China and other fast-growing economies. Just under two-thirds of the 1 billion tons, or $400 billion, in new steel produced each year comes from iron ore.

The USS Howard W. Gilmore will be the 50th ship to leave the James River Reserve Fleet to be scrapped. The ship's departure was delayed Wednesday, because of high winds and choppy water. It's now expected to be hauled away later this week. The World War Two-era ship was decommissioned in 1980. The federal Maritime Administration has spent about $99 million removing the ships. The ghost fleet still includes 47 ships slated for scrapping. Source: AP

Two more ships are leaving the James River, headed for disposal facilities in Virginia and Maryland, in what has become a regular occurrence since the Bush Administration took over management of the nation’s ship disposal program five years ago, the U.S. Maritime Administration announced. The Howard W. Gilmore is scheduled to leave the James River Reserve Fleet at Fort Eustis on Thursday, making it the 50th ship to leave the river since January 1, 2001. It is one of the last World War II-vintage ships still at the fleet, which is good news for the ship disposal program, according to John Jamian, MARAD’s Acting Administrator. In a news conference at the fleet site today, Jamian said, “Our disposal efforts can keep moving to newer ships, which bring better prices in the scrap steel market.