It only took one week in mid-August to demolish five vessels that were impounded by the harbormaster over the course of 10 years.
Typically, the number of impounded vessels to be destroyed and shipped out isn’t so high, but the demolition funds weren’t in the budget and the vessels had to wait, said Harbormaster Steve Miller.
Since taking the helm two years ago, Miller has “been adding more and more money into our derelict vessel fund because also that money isn’t used for crushing boats and shipping them out,” he said. “It’s also in case there’s an emergency and one sinks and we have to raise it … somebody has to pay for that.”
The vessels had to be cleaned out and cleared of any oils, fuels or other contaminants before being torn apart. Harbor workers had to take extra time and effort, while contractors with specialized tools were brought in for trickier dismantling. Costs averaged about $1,000 per vessel, which doesn’t include shipping them to Republic Services in eastern Washington state along with Wrangell’s other trash for disposal in an approved landfill.
Miller said there weren’t any challenges from the owners of the vessels, since many were “long gone.” Reasons for impounding usually come down to nonpayment of storage fees, a vessel becomes derelict or a nuisance, or it begins to sink and the owner doesn’t want to take care of it. “We basically have to jump on it,” Miller said. “We do an impound because somebody has to have control of the vessel at that point.”
The removal of some of the vessels being kept in storage also freed up needed space in The Marine Service Center.
Due to previous language in the borough’s impound ordinance, the harbormaster’s office couldn’t recoup the fees associated with demolition and shipping. A new ordinance passed in April “will allow us to strengthen the cost of the harbors, so now we can go after vessel owners when they don’t want to step up to the plate and do what’s right.”
The vessels that were recently demolished ranged in size from 22 feet to 47 feet long and were all fiberglass builds. Miller said only about one vessel is impounded every year, give or take.
“There may be a few people seeing some bills coming out of this once I get the total tally,” Miller said.
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