’Ghost’ fleet firm gets green light

Archiv – Able UK, the company at the centre of the four-year ’ghost’ fleet saga, has finally secured local authority approval to develop a ship recycling centre at Seaton Port in north-east England.United Kingdom | Able UK, the company at the centre of the four-year ’ghost’ fleet saga, has finally secured local authority approval to develop a ship recycling centre at Seaton Port in north-east England.
The company’s proposal to develop the so-called Teesside Environmental Reclamation and Recycling Centre (TERRC) was rejected by planners in October last year. Following an appeal, however, the local Hartlepool Council has approved a series of company applications covering, among other things, the construction, repair, refurbishment and decommissioning of all types of ships, vessels and other craft.
Able UK’s Chairman Peter Stephenson made the following response to the planners’ decision: ’Today is a cause for celebration because it means that, at last, we can move ahead with our plans to exploit the enormous potential of TERRC.’ However, he also expressed ’a huge sense of regret’ that the project had been delayed for so long ’by the activities of organisations and individuals who claim to care about the environment but in reality seem more interested in how many headlines they can grab than the well-being of local people and the north east region (of England)’. The delays had led to ’major costs’ for the company, both in terms of lost business and the outlay incurred as a result of a planning inquiry.
In 2003, the US Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) awarded Able UK an £11 million (US$ 22 million) contract for the remediation and recycling of 13 redundant vessels from the US Reserve Fleet. Four of these vessels – the Caloosahatchee, Canisteo, Compass Island and Canopus – arrived in Hartlepool in November 2003. However, following a renegotiation of the contract earlier this year, Able UK will not now recycle the other nine US Reserve Fleet vessels.