Shipbreaking revival in Philly - Scrap Industry News - Metro Machine Corp. receives Navy dismantle and scrap contract - Brief Article

Recycling Today, March, 2002

The Philadelphia ship repair yard of Metro Machine Corp. has reportedly won a contract to dismantle and scrap two U.S. Navy warships.

Metro Machine, an employee-owned ship repair firm based in Norfolk, Va., has leased a pair of dry docks in the Philadelphia Shipyard with the intention of winning contracts under a pilot project sponsored by the Navy. The goal of that project has been to steer Naval shipbreaking work toward approved U.S. facilities.

The federal government mulled using overseas yards to scrap warships, but re-considered after reports concerning the inability of foreign facilities to safely work with hazardous materials found on old ships.

Metro's latest winning bid came just as work on the dismantling of a Navy cruiser was winding down, saving many of the yard's 175 workers from being laid off.

Metro Philadelphia yard superintendent John Strem told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the new government contract allows the yard to retain the workforce it has trained from breaking three other U.S. Navy ships.

The new ships heading to Metro's yard are the USS McDonnell, a frigate, and the USS Claude V. Ricketts, a destroyer. According to the Inquirer, dismantling the two vessels will bring about $4 million worth of work to the yard.

Strem told the newspaper that Metro has developed government-approved procedures for dismantling ships, disposing of toxic waste, and selling scrap material to cover part of the cost.

The company is hopeful that more shipbreaking work will come its way as dozens of decommissioned Navy warships sitting in harbors on the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts are designated for scrapping by the Navy.