Able UK is a British industrial services company specialising in decommissioning of ships and offshore installations.
Overview
Able UK is a British industrial services company, operating primarily in the marine decommissioning and recycling business. As of 2014 the company has a specialised dry dock with associated decommissioning facilities including landfill at
Seaton (TERRC, ''Teesside Environmental Reclamation & Recycling Centre'')
[fixed platforms, ]heavy-lift ship
A heavy-lift ship is a vessel designed to move very large loads that cannot be handled by normal ships. They are of two types:
*''Semi-submersible'' ships that take on water ballast to allow the load—usually another vessel—to be floated o ...
, and other large ships including aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...
sized vessels. The company also undertakes general demolition work.
In addition to the dock facility at Seaton, Able UK also has (as of 2014) sites with port facilities at or near Billingham
Billingham is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, England. The town is on the north side of the River Tees and is governed by Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council. The settlement had previously formed its o ...
(''Billingham Reach'',[Site of the former ]North Tees Power Station
North Tees Power Station refers to a series of three coal-fired power stations on the River Tees at Billingham in County Durham. Overall, they operated from 1921 until 1983, and the C station, the last on the site, was demolished in 1987. Billi ...
. quay and industrial estate); Port Clarence
Port Clarence is a small village now within the borough of Stockton-on-Tees and ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It is situated on the north bank of the River Tees, and hosts the northern end of the Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge.
...
(''Clarence Port'', River Tees bankside development land); and at Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area.
Until the early 1800s, the a ...
(''Middlesbrough Port'', River Tees quayside north with fabrication facilities; also at the former ''South Tees Recycling Centre''.).
The company has non-port sites at or near (as of 2014): Barnby Dun
Barnby Dun is a village in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. Together with Kirk Sandall it forms the civil parish of Barnby Dun with Kirk Sandall. It lies between Arksey and Stainforth.
The parish church of St Peter & St Paul is Grade I ...
(the former Thorpe Marsh Power Station
Thorpe Marsh Power Station was a 1 GW coal-fired power station near Barnby Dun in South Yorkshire, England. The station was commissioned in 1963 and closed in 1994. In 2011, permission was given for the construction of a gas-fired power ...
); and at Seaton (''Seaton Meadows'' landfill site).
As of 2014 Able UK is also promoting and planning two sites in the north of Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...
, near the banks of the Humber Estuary
The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers Ouse and Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary between the ...
. The "ABLE Humber Port" consists of "ABLE Logistics Park" is a logistic park of nearly , with an adjacent port development "ABLE Marine Energy Park" of over with nearly of quay on the banks of the Humber Estuary. ABLE Logistics Park received planning permission in 2013. ABLE Marine Energy Park received local planning permission in 2013, and sought a Development Consent Order in 2014; a planning decision was delayed due to objections from ABP, which were judicially rejected in 2015.
History
Able UK was founded in 1966 by Peter Stephenson.
In 1995 Able acquired the land of the closed Thorpe Marsh Power Station
Thorpe Marsh Power Station was a 1 GW coal-fired power station near Barnby Dun in South Yorkshire, England. The station was commissioned in 1963 and closed in 1994. In 2011, permission was given for the construction of a gas-fired power ...
. In 1996 Able acquired the dock at Graythorp, renaming it the TERRC (''Teesside Environmental Reclamation and Recycling Centre'') together with the nearby Seaton Meadows landfill site.
In 2000 Able acquired a fabrication facility in Middlesbrough (formerly ''Davy Offshore Modules'', later ''SLP Engineering'', and ''Odebrecht''.) renaming it ''ABLE Middlesbrough Port''.
In 2003 the TERRC facility became the subject of controversy when Able obtained a £11 million contract from the United States Maritime Administration
The United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) is an agency of the United States Department of Transportation. MARAD administers financial programs to develop, promote, and operate the U.S. Maritime Service and the U.S. Merchant Marine. Det ...
to dismantle 13 former US navy ships (known as the ''Ghost Ships''). Due to the presence of asbestos
Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...
and polychlorinated biphenyl
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are highly carcinogenic chemical compounds, formerly used in industrial and consumer products, whose production was banned in the United States by the Toxic Substances Control Act in 1979 and internationally by t ...
s in the ships the action was opposed by some Hartlepool
Hartlepool () is a seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Borough of Hartlepool. With an estimated population of 90,123, it is the second-largest settlement in County ...
residents and environmental groups.
Able acquired a license to carry out the work from the Environment Agency
The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...
in 2008. The delays caused by the objections to the process caused Able the loss of the US contract for 9 of the 13 ships. In 2007 Able was fined £20,000 for failing to follow proper procedures when disposing of asbestos. By 2009 the four US ships had been received at the site together with the former French aircraft carrier ''Clemenceau'' were sealed inside the dry dock, which was drained, and the ships scrapped. Other constructions decommissioned at the same time included the former jacket of an installation from the North West Hutton Oilfield
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.
Etymology
The word ''north'' is ...
. Dismantling work was completed in 2011.
The TERRC site was again the subject of a planning conflict in 2012 when Hartlepool Borough Council
The Borough of Hartlepool is a unitary authority area in ceremonial County Durham, England. The borough's largest town is Hartlepool.
It borders the County Durham district as well as the boroughs of Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees ...
rejected a planning submission (to extend the height Seaton Meadows landfill) made in an attempt to prevent spontaneous combustion
Spontaneous combustion or spontaneous ignition is a type of combustion which occurs by self-heating (increase in temperature due to exothermic internal reactions), followed by thermal runaway (self heating which rapidly accelerates to high tem ...
of refuse which had been occurring.
In the 2009/2010 Able published plans for a sites on the south Humber Estuary
The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers Ouse and Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary between the ...
bank to provide a large logistics facility and facilities for wind farm equipment manufacture and installation; The ''Able Logistics Park'' received planning permission in 2013, The £450 million estuary side port development ''Able Marine Energy Park'' (AMEP) received planning consent in December 2013, after having been delayed due to concerns over wildlife impact.
In 2014 proceedings for a ''Development Consent Order'' for the AMEP plan were begun. Associated British Ports
Associated British Ports owns and operates 21 ports in the United Kingdom, managing around 25 per cent of the UK's sea-borne trade. The company's activities cover transport, haulage and terminal operations, ship's agency, dredging and marine cons ...
(ABP) submitted two petitions: an objection and an alternative petition for amendment, both based on objections to compulsory purchase
Compulsion may refer to:
* Compulsive behavior, a psychological condition in which a person does a behavior compulsively, having an overwhelming feeling that they must do so.
* Obsessive–compulsive disorder, a mental disorder characterized by i ...
of land it had recently announced the intention to develop for a hydrocarbon importation facility, the ''Immingham Western Deepwater Jetty'' (IWDJ). ABP was subsequently accused of filing wrecking amendment
In legislative debate, a wrecking amendment (also called a poison pill amendment or killer amendment) is an amendment made by a legislator who disagrees with the principles of a bill and who seeks to make it useless (by moving amendments to either ...
s at the initial hearings. ABP sought a modification of the plans, shortening the AMEP quay by . At hearings in April 2014 ABP's petitions of objections were found to be valid, requiring the development case to be heard by a committee of MPs. By July 2014 other issues with the plan had been withdrawn, with the ABP petitions to be heard at an inquiry in October. In August 2014 work began on a £60 million environmental remediation
Environmental remediation deals with the removal of pollution or contaminants from environmental media such as soil, groundwater, sediment, or surface water. Remedial action is generally subject to an array of regulatory requirements, and may al ...
scheme for AMEP to create an alternative wading bird habitats on the banks of the Humber, enabling works began for the AMEP development in the same month, with £15 million funding coming from a government grant. In October 2014 the parliamentary committee rejected ABP's petitions, and in February 2015 ABP ended its legal opposition to the plans following rejection of a judicial review of the planning decision.
In mid 2015 DONG Energy
Dong or DONG may refer to:
Places
* Dong Lake, or East Lake, a lake in China
* Dong, Arunachal Pradesh, a village in India
* Dong (administrative division) (동 or 洞), a neighborhood division in Korea
Persons
*Queen Dong (1623–1681), princes ...
agreed a MOU with ABLE over the construction of an offshore wind operations base at the planned ABLE Marine Energy Park; however in mid 2016 DONG withdrew from plans to use the site as an operations hub, following an internal review that concluded the site would not be operation in time for its UK east coast wind farm plans.
Notes
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Further reading
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Able Uk
Companies based in County Durham
Waste management companies of the United Kingdom
Ship breaking
Waste companies established in 1966