(WASHINGTON) — A slow economy and plunging scrap steel prices mean that the Maritime Administration now must pay recyclers to accept old Reserve Fleet ships, the Washington Post newspaper reported. Bay Bridge Enterprises, for example, is receiving $115,200 to take the USS Escape. Recently a package of four ships, at first, received a bid of $3.5 million, but by the time the deal closed the federal government paid the company $1.8 million to take the ships away.
