US-based Marine Environmental Remediation Group (MER) has established a new ship recycling facility that boasts safe and environmentally sustainable operations on the grounds of the former US naval base at Roosevelt Roads, in Ceiba, Puerto Rico. 

The facility will initially employ 700 people and will inject into the economy an estimated capital investment of US$19 million for the reclamation of steel and other metals recovered using state-of-the-art technology, and the re-selling of vessel machinery and equipment recycled from retired ocean-going ships and platforms. 

With 3,000 feet of quay, the newly refitted MER Group US east coast/Caribbean facility will be able to accommodate multiple vessels simultaneously. It plans to recycle at least 50,000 LDTs [light displacement tons] annually, reported American Journal of Transportation.

The recycling operations will employ technological innovation and patented proprietary procedures, which reduces risk to the environment and the safety of personnel associated with conventional ship-breaking activities.

"Since ships are made almost entirely of steel, they provide an efficient way to produce large quantities of high-quality steel for recycling, and processed plate and structural steel from ships is in great demand worldwide," said Clarence LaMora from MER. 

Worldwide, ship recycling provides 600 million tons of steel and other recovered materials, represe