First shipment of car wrecks
leaves island for recycling
MARIGOT--The first barge-load of compacted car wrecks left the Galisbay port on Wednesday night bound for Eastern Canada, marking a successful first phase of an operation begun in January to remove unsightly wrecks from the French side.
The loading of between 5,000 and 6,000 tons of carcasses began on Sunday evening at the port. The barge will be towed by tugboat to the recycling plant in Quebec, Canada, on a voyage taking about 2½ weeks.
The massive 315-feet-long 83-feet-wide barge dwarfed other vessels at the port.
“Unfortunately, because of other equipment on board, the barge is not able to take all the wrecks from the port here on this trip, so about 80 to 100 car bodies have been left over,” noted Jules Charville, managing director of local contractor Scorpio Equipment and Material Services.
However, the barge will return to St. Martin in May to pick up another load.
“In the meantime we are hoping to sign a new contract to clean up the whole of the French side,” Charville added.
Société National de Ferrailles (SNF) Quebec Metal’s auto recycling division Newco Metal President Yvon Champagne was on hand to supervise loading of the wrecks with other officials. Once the wrecks reach their destination they will be shredded. The company has two compacters, one of which is on-island and the other returning to Canada on the barge.
The former car dump at the Galisbay port is now completely clear of car wrecks.
Scorpio Equipment and Material Services was awarded the local contract for cleaning up the car wreck dump by the Commune.
SNF was created in 1973. It recycled a million tons of steel in 2004, much of it coming from China and Pakistan.
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