The Vallejo (Calif.) Planning Commission has approved a request for a dry dock ship repair and dismantling operation to be set up at a former naval base, but a major recycler is perplexed and alleges it was excluded from the bidding process.

California Dry Dock Solutions, which plans use to dry dock Nos. 2 and 3 and the adjacent area at the shuttered Mare Island Naval Shipyard, is in the process of pursuing a contract to dismantle and scrap four U.S. Navy ships located at the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet, along with other potential contracts. The dismantling of the four decommissioned ships is expected to take 520 days.

However, New Orleans-based Southern Recycling (SoRec), owned by European Metal Recycling Ltd., says it has been trying to make headway at the site since early 2008.

"The...