Artificial Reefs: A Disposal Option for Navy and MARAD Ships
Abstract
Over the next 20 years, after accounting for unfunded forms of ship disposal such as donations, sales, or transfers to foreign governments and private interests, more than 350 Navy and Maritime Administration (MARAD) vessels will require some form of government-funded disposal. A previous RAND Corporation study (Hess et al., Disposal Options for Ships, MR-1377-NAVY, 2001) reviewed such disposal options, including recycling (either domestically or overseas) and long-term storage. Preparation and use of ships for construction of artificial reefs was identified as the lowest-cost domestic option for ship disposal. In the research reported here, we examine the demand for ships as reefs and the impediments to such use. We suggest program goals and review possible business models for their potential to minimize risks and costs to the Navy. While it had been our intention to conduct a more-thorough analysis, the U.S. Navy, for which this research was conducted, found our preliminary results satisfactory for its purposes and asked that we not proceed further. Our reefing analysis is thus suggestive, rather than definitive. For the reader's convenience, a synopsis of the earlier study is included in this briefing. Some of the findings have been updated to reflect information coming to our attention since that report was published.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2004
- Accession Number
- ADA424833
Entities
People
- Denis Rushworth
- John E. Peters
- Michael V. Hynes
Organizations
- RAND Corporation