REEMPLOYMENT / Defense
A charity reemployment for the biggest Spanish Navy icon.
After 25 years of loyal service, the Ministry of Defense retired the biggest aircraft carrier in Spain. The goal of the Ministry, since it could not be reemployed for the same purpose, was to scrap it in order to recover as much value as possible.
SURUS challenge
How to go beyond traditional scrapping in order to reemploy as many equipment from the ship as possible, generating also social value from the economic value?
A circular solution.
We developed a customized solution for the biggest ship in Spain that combined decontamination and maintenance services with a circular management of the assets and equipment. We organized a charity auction aiming to provide a second life to some components of the aircraft carrier and to support NGOs through the process.
Process
1. Decontaminating 17,000 tons
SURUS applied an environmental solution to ensure full decontamination of the ship in order to transport it to Turkish waters with no risk of spilling hazardous fluids to the sea. The fuel from tanks and bilges was inerted and all hazardous material was documented, managing solid garbage as waste.
- Removal, decontamination and inerting of fuel and fluids present inside tanks and bilges.
- Removal of solid waste (hazardous and non hazardous) in the ship.
- Creation of an Inventory of Hazardous Material (IHM) with especial focus on asbestos waste.
- Load chopping.
- Sealing holes in the hull and measuring thickness.
- Welding of the wheel to the track.
- Creation of a stability and towing report.
- Application for permits to all public organizations in order to transport the ship.
2. Recovering part of the history of a national icon.
SURUS went beyond the scrapping and managed to give a second life to more than 350 pieces of equipment in good condition, from internal signage to navigation charts and the captain’s seat. All these assets reemployed (and therefore not scrapped) were sold through a charity auction which drew more than 4200 people to Escrapalia, the platform owned by SURUS.
The revenue was given to three NGOs that aimed to transform economic value into social value. Caritas Castrense, Fundación Museo Naval and Asociación Nuestra Señora del Carmen.

