Still more Derelicts in the news

Photo by Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News
As reported today in the Peninsula Daily News: (in Washington state)

PORT ANGELES -- A boat that was marooned in Port Angeles Harbor for eight weeks is finally high and dry.

The badly-damaged 36-foot Montana Drifter was towed from its partially-submerged state near the Rayonier property to the Port Angeles Marina on Saturday afternoon.

Jay Ketchum, owner of Affordable Services of Sequim and a professional diver, was hired by the state Department of Natural Resources to raise, secure and tow the grounded vessel to the marina, where it will be disassembled and taken to dumps and scrap yards.....

DNR contacted Ketchum about moving the boat about week ago, he said. They agreed to a contract ranging between $4,000 and $6,000 to move the boat, Ketchum said....

Gasper [the owner] was being fined $8.11 per day by the DNR, which was set to declare the Montana Drifter derelict on Feb. 16.

A couple of points, and a few of questions.

• Its nice to see gov't agencies actually declaring boats as derelict.
• I'm glad to see the DNR contracting out to private firms for the work.
• What are Mr. Ketchum's qualifications to be a professional diver?
• Is that reported fine amount correct? $8/day ???
• Was that contract put out to competitive bidding?
• Once the boat is on dry land, who is paying for the disassembly and transportation to the dump? Who will dispose of the hazardous materials still in the boat?
  

Derelict Disposal Company

photo: this is one way to dispose of an old boat. I rented a skip loader back in Marina Del Rey and we crushed 6 boats in one day.

I received an email from Joe Velardo, who Googled "derelict boat" and found RRR. He has started a new company called Derelict Vessel Solutions. He has put together a small web site. Joe indicated that he was inspired to start his new company in part due to his reading of my posts here at RRR about the derelict vessel issue. I wish him luck.

Joe, if you're reading this, your web site is a nice start, but please at least add some information about where you are located and what geographical areas you plan to service. If you are really serious about a business, you should provide a contact phone number.

Derelict Boat Issue Hits the Big Time

....as in Time Magazine, which printed an article titled America's Underwater Junkyard this week. Here is a snippet from that article:

Legislation is slowly beginning to change. Since 2003, Washington State's vessel removal program has led a crackdown on derelict boats, using ramped-up boat-registration fees as funding for the program, which has so far cleared 188 boats. "It gave us financial capability plus the legal hammer if we needed to use it," says Doug Sutherland, the state's commissioner of public lands. Other state officials have expressed interest in Washington's model. In September, the California legislature passed a bill to increase fines to owners of derelict vessels. And last year, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an act that
gives NOAA funds and authorization to remove abandoned vessels damaging coral reefs.

I've been harping about this issue since the second blog I ever put up way back in February of 2007: Derelict Boats create income opportunity.

So, two thoughts from me today:
A) I hope that C-PORT keeps abreast of this issue, as I predict that federal money earmarked for this kind of work will probably flow through the USCG, and we should ask that the funds be spent through competitive bidding to private industry, rather than just federal grants passed down to local and state authorities. If a few million dollars for derelict vessel removal ends up in the hands of places like Orange County, CA, you can bet our industry will never see a nickle of it.

B) I predict that in the next 10 years, derelict vessel retrieval and disposal will become a multi-million dollar industry, fueled almost entirely with public funds. A large portion of abandoned vessels are under 60' in length, and our industry has the resources to retrieve a bunch of those.

However, getting this kind of work will require determination and active particpation on your part, rather than just waiting around for the phones and radios to announce a job opportunity.

All indications are that next year will be a slow one for recreational boating, and that will mean less towing. If you have boats and pumps and divers and lift bags and manpower, you should begin planning to find alternative ways to keep those resources busy.

Here is one idea that I might try if I knew where there were derelicts in my AOR. I would go out and find these boats, take pictures, record the LAT/LON and the physical particulars like length, construction and condition. I would put all that into a database. Then, I would create a document that summarizes all this information and get that document into the hands of every single agency I could find.

Two things might happen. Someone might actually want the details, and I would offer to sell my data for a fee. Even better, decision makers at the agencies will probably view my company as one of the experts in this field, and that increases my chances of getting some of the work.

More Derelict Disposal News

Just another little news article about abandoned vessels, and what might be done.

Queens Chronicle - ‘Operation Clean Bay’ Aims To End Vessel Abandonment

....a task force — comprised of the National Park Service and U.S. Coast Guard, the NYPD, the state Department of Environmental Conservation and the city Department of Environmental Protection — to investigate the ownership of derelict boats.

Now, I'm guessing that none of those agencies are actually doing the disposal work. Getting these types of contracts is probably tough in NYC, but in more rural areas, there is potential for work, assuming you can reach the funding authorities. In some cases, they find the boat owner, and he has some time to solve the problem before the fines kick in. This is the best chance for you to get in the picture. Let all your local agencies know that you are equipped and able to handle derelict work, and they might even pass your phone number on to potential customers.

An interesting quirk of derelict disposal work is that the customer wants the boat destroyed, so you have no damage liability, and, the government wants the thing out of there, because they consider it pollution, so the USCG probably won't be breathing down your neck while you do the work.

If you are going to dispose of a boat, click here to see a copy of my old disposal contract. It might give you some ideas of how to write your own. The work isn't that hard; in general, just drain all the fluids, remove all the garbage, and have it trucked to the landfill. In some cases, you might have to remove the motors, but even those aren't too hard to get rid of.

There is a confluence of forces that I believe will result in a big increase in derelict disposals over the next decade. Whether you like it or not, the Democrats will control Congress for at least the next 5-6 years, and that means more dollars for environmental issues, like cleaning up the nations waterways. Meanwhile, as the economy softens, folks with older boats will find zero buyers for worn out boats, and may succumb to more sinister alternatives to get rid of the financial burden of owning a boat - especially if it is insured.

In the past year, I've seen signs that municipalities and state agencies are eager to step up enforcement of abandoned vessel laws, and are making real efforts to find the owners, who face hefty fines or even jail if they don't respond. Even the Block Island Harbor Master drafted up an abandoned vessel law over this past winter. People who can afford to own coastal property are demanding that local officials keep the rivers and beaches clean - they paid a lot of money for their view, and an old rusty boat wasn't part of the deal.

So, an increased willingness for enforcement, more federal dollars (used almost entirely for enforcment, or contracted clean-up), and an economic incentive for abandonment all spells more vessel disposal work. Someone is gonna do it, why not you?