The Maritime Administration (MARAD) is making plans to dispose of its remaining World War Two era Victory ships.
The Rider Victory and Winthrop Victory are to be towed from the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet, located just north of San Francisco, California. Another WWII vessel the Mission Santa Ynez, is also being recycled.
The vessels will first be towed to a ship repair facility to be cleaned of marine growth and loose paint, before continuing on to be dismantled in Brownsville, Texas.
The process must be done carefully as many ships of that class are filled with asbestos which has been proven to cause serious illnesses including lung cancer, asbestosis and mesothelioma. The latter two illnesses have no cure and symptoms may not become evident for many years. Approximately 100,000 people in the United States either have died or are predicted to die from asbestos exposure in shipyards.
According to MARAD, when one of their vessels is deemed to be obsolete, the agency makes arrangements to have it disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner.
If you’ve worked in a shipyard and believe you may have been exposed to asbestos, there are many attorneys experienced in this field that can help.
Source: Maritime Administration press release
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