Press Releases - ABLE

COMPANY WELCOMES ‘POSITIVE’ MEETING WITH MINISTER
07/01/04

The Managing Director of Able UK has today (January 7th) welcomed what he described as the ‘very constructive and positive tone’ of a meeting with Environment Minister Elliott Morley over the issue of the recycling of redundant US vessels at the company’s Graythorp facility—and the wider issue of ship disposal.

Mr Peter Stephenson was speaking after this morning’s meeting in London, organised by the Minister at the request of the Hartlepool MP Peter Mandelson and also attended by representatives of Hartlepool Borough Council and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Said Mr Stephenson “I think that everyone involved in today’s meeting was both grateful for the efforts of Peter Mandelson in requesting the meeting and the very constructive approach taken by the Minister and his officials.

“He made it very clear that what the Government wants to see is the best possible environmentally friendly method for the recycling of the vessels currently moored at our facility and we are absolutely confident that we can meet that requirement.

“In addition we discussed the wider issue of the increasing challenge of finding the best way to dispose of redundant shipping and the Minister underlined the need for us to have a first-class facility in the UK to undertake this kind of work… that is, of course, the reason why we have developed our TERRC (Teesside Environmental Reclamation and Recycling Centre) facility and why the United States Maritime Agency awarded us the contract for the recycling of their vessels.

“I believe that, following today’s meeting, all parties involved will be working to resolve the current outstanding issues and I am confident that, as Mr Mandelson has pointed out, we have a real opportunity to use the skills and expertise available in the area to bring further work and contracts.”

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