MoD shuts 'eBay for warships' site

15 August 2012

The Ministry of Defence has closed a website which allowed it to sell surplus military equipment - from socks to decommissioned capital ships - to members of the public, claiming that running the site had become too costly.

The eDisposals.com site, operated by the MoD's Disposal Services Authority (DSA), first opened in February 2007 and offered a range of surplus and decommissioned military equipment via a single online shopping portal.

The closure of the site means that the upcoming sale of two Type 42 destroyers - HMS York and HMS Edinburgh – is now being carried out by the DSA directly via the main Ministry of Defence website. The ships are being offered on a government-to-government-only basis.

Other items currently being sold to government buyers only include a Goalkeeper close-in weapons system, Scimitar vehicles, Cobra (Counter Battery Radar) and Mk1 and Mk3 C-130K Hercules transport aircraft.

Last year, eDisposals.com caused some embarrassment to the Ministry of Defence when it allowed users to add former Royal Navy flagship HMS Ark Royal to their online "shopping cart". A defence source said that the ship, which was initially offered only to other governments, was eventually opened to private sector bidders as no suitable government buyer expressed an interest.

The sale of Ark Royal, which eventually received dozens of multi-million pound bids including separate offers of conversion to a diving wreck, casino and conference centre, is still yet to conclude more than 13 months after the bidding process ended on 6 July last year.

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson told DefenceManagement.com: "The MoD continues to pursue the best financial return for the taxpayer when disposing of assets that have reached the end of their service life.

"No assets were sold directly through the 'e-disposals' website, which was a portal through which potential buyers could access a number of external websites. Its closure has enabled the department to remove the cost overhead of running the site and traffic is now directed to the Disposal Services Authority."