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They are an organization that is trustworthy, until there is accurate info, I do not want to spread any rumors.
Stay tuned
Won't be the US Congress is giving anyone $500 million for renovation.
Not that she is to become a hotel anywhere, or conference centre etc etc.
Unlikely to be she is sold for scrap - YET.
Doesn't leave much else...........? She has more varieties of rust than other structure in the world ?
quote:Originally posted by mike sa:Unlikely to be she is sold for scrap - YET.?
?
Pure out of curiosity, what is her scrap value : the amount of recyclable steel and other products ?
J
quote:Originally posted by mike sa:Unlikely to be she is sold for scrap - YET.
I can't think of a more likely option. Just berthing her must cost big money.
NCL surely wanted her hull for NCLA, or to at least stop anyone else getting it. NCLA is clearly a bit of a flop, so I can't imagine in my wildest dreams the the Big U has a future with NCL or any other cruise line for that matter.
Dear SS United States Conservancy Members and Supporters:
The SS United States Conservancy has learned that the SS UNITED STATES will soon be listed for sale. The SS UNITED STATES was purchased by Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) in 2003, and ownership of the vessel was recently transferred to a holding company controlled by NCL's parent company, Hong Kong-based Star Cruises. In light of current economic conditions, the SS UNITED STATES is now in grave danger of being sold for scrap. The Conservancy's press release related to the impending sale of the ship is available here. The American-built SS UNITED STATES shattered all trans-Atlantic speed records on her maiden voyage in 1952 and remains the fastest passenger liner ever built. She was listed on the National Register of Historic Places before attaining 50 years of age because of her "compelling national significance." The SS UNITED STATES must be saved for future generations. We believe that a project to restore and revitalize the SS UNITED STATES could create thousands of jobs and help stimulate the economy in these challenging times as well as preserve one of the world's finest engineering achievements. While the SS United States Conservancy has been working diligently behind the scenes to secure a future home and reuse for the ship, we have been continually hindered by the fact that the vessel remains privately owned. If we are going to succeed in saving the SS UNITED STATES for future generations, we need all hands on deck. The Conservancy is launching a major public education and outreach campaign and we need your help!
Reach out to Congress! We urge all supporters to contact their members of Congress by visiting our website's new "Take Action" page at www.ssunitedstatesconservancy.org. Congress needs to act to prevent our national flagship from being sold for scrap. On our website you will find text for a letter to your Senators and Representatives which can be copied and pasted into an email or snail mail letter, as well as instructions for how to obtain contact information for your elected officials. Reach out to the Media! Write a "letter to the editor" of your local newspaper! Post a blog entry on one of your favorite sites! Pitch a story to a media outlet! Educate the press on the historical significance of the SS UNITED STATES! Contact your local PBS affiliate and suggest that they re-broadcast the documentary film "SS UNITED STATES: Lady in Waiting."Reach out to Friends, Neighbors, and Colleagues! Pass on the word to everyone you know that the SS UNITED STATES is in danger of being sent to the breakers. We need to join forces with local maritime unions, port authorities, civic organizations, and other constituencies to bolster our base of support for saving the ship. Reach out to everyone you know and enlist their support!The Conservancy will continue to recruit potential public and private sector partners to secure a dignified and sustainable future for the SS UNITED STATES. During this period of high alert, the Conservancy has launched an SOS "Blog" on our website where we will post updates about the ship's status as they become available. Please visit our website at www.ssunitedstatesconservancy.org and click on "Blog" to visit. We invite you to share your views. Time is of the essence. Our nation's flagship is once again facing the ignoble fate of the breakers' torches. We must act now, we must act together, and we must save the SS UNITED STATES. As always, thank you for your support of the SS UNITED STATES. Board of DirectorsSS United States Conservancywww.ssunitedstatesconservancy.orgPhone (888) 488-7787
quote:Originally posted by Johan:Pure out of curiosity, what is her scrap value : the amount of recyclable steel and other products ?J
The 25,000 ton Maxim Gorkiy was sold for around $4 million dollars so at least double that for ssUS. ssUS would also require an expensive tow to the scrappers.
2003:
Official Press Release - Norwegian Cruise LineNorwegian Cruise Line (NCL) announced on April 14, 2003 that it has purchased the S/S United States, one of the country's most venerable ships built in the glory days of trans-Atlantic sea travel. NCL intends to convert the vessel to a state-of-the art, modern cruise ship and to add her to NCL's planned US flagged fleet. A relaunched S/S United States will add more than 1,000 American maritime jobs and 5,000 shoreside jobs to the 3,000 maritime jobs and 17,000 shoreside jobs that NCL's US flag initiative with Project America is predicted to generate....
...Colin Veitch, NCL's president and CEO. "The S/S United States would be a phenomenal addition to our US flag operation down the road. We remain focused on completing Project America and successfully introducing our innovative US flag cruise ships in Hawaii, but we will now organize a project team to work with US yards, naval engineers and architects to develop plans for what should be the fourth vessel in our US flagged fleet."
quote:Originally posted by lasuvidaboy:W/the billions in pork in the latest stimulus bill, why not $500 million to restore ssUS as a static visitor' center/convention sight in NYC? The unions will get the jobs (as the current administration wants) to restore her and a piece of US history will be preserved.
They (the stonewalling Republicans) complained and force-axed hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollors worth of stimulus that would have created tens of thousands of construction and long term employment jobs, they would all roll over and die over a half a billion for a rusted hulk of a ship.
I never did agree with his ideas and with him having lost his job it now looks as if the USA will loose its Merchant Marine flag ship thanks to that man.
quote:Originally posted by Neil Whitmore ( Bob ex P&O Cruises):With the likely sale of the SS United States is does not say much for Colin Veitch and all his talk of bringing the SS United States back into service.
After the press release in 2003, there was a long silence, but then Veitch said "It will happen". (One of the great maritime quotes of our time).
He later changed the story and said it all depended on the success of NCLA - and we all know what a white elephant that turned out to be!
I think the investment in the F3 project made it clear that NCL are more interested in the future than the past.
It's one thing to read about the stimulus bill in the press and hear about it on TV but everyone should take take a minute to review the actual document.
The latest version is here.
It's currently 787 pages long - that works out to about $1 billion dollars of "stimulus" per page!!
The thing that jumped out at me was the lack of specifics about how the money is going to be spent (...I was looking for projects that I might be able to bid on). 10 billion to this agency, 500 million to another and the Secretary has 60 days to figure out how to spend it.
quote:Originally posted by Neil Whitmore ( Bob ex P&O Cruises):[...] it now looks as if the USA will loose its Merchant Marine flag ship thanks to that man.
One can hardly blame him for that since the SS Unites States is a wreck for decades now. She ceased being a functional ship a very long time - well before NCL bought her remains.
Too many times on these boards, I see people attacking other people without having a full grasp of the facts. I am neither fan nor detractor of Colin Veitch. I let his record speak for itself. However, if anyone thinks the UNITED STATES would exist now if it weren't for NCL, they are in a dream world. NCL saved that ship and the INDY from certain doom (both were bought by outbidding the scrap offers). Whatever their intent, if it were not for NCL, these two ships would have been destroyed years ago.
Peter
quote:Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:I think the investment in the F3 project made it clear that NCL are more interested in the future than the past.
Malcolm,
Every shipyard capable of rebuilding the BigU looked the ship as a courtesy to NCL. None of them wanted the job. There are few shipwrights left who know how to work on a banana shaped hull with camber, shear, and tumblehome. SSUS was no ordinary ocean liner either with a complex structural system and many more subdivisions than a standard cruiseship.
A textbook case is the 1948 Stockholm to Athena: She was gutted to the steel and rebuilt to the point of unrecognition. The Italian government subsidized the job to keep the shipyards busy and the workers off unemployment. She was 18 months late and 2x overbudget. Stockholm is far less complex than the BigU and 1/2 the size.
I want to extend thanks and congratulations to the Conservancy and Foundation for valiant efforts and a job well done against tremendous odds.
quote:Originally posted by Midshipcentury:Whatever their intent, if it were not for NCL, these two ships would have been destroyed years ago.
With all due respect Peter, NCL buying these ships looks like it achieved nothing apart from a 'stay of execution'. It certainly gave many ship fans false hope.
Initially NCL were very positive and repeatedly said they would return the SS United States back to service, rather than taking a more cautious approach with their press releases. This of course later left them open for accusations of making false promises. (However, I do appreciate that NCL are a business and financial climates do change).
I've not met anyone in the maritime world that actually believed it was financially feasible to return the SS United States back to service, not to mention the technical problems. Did you think it would actually happen?
quote:Originally posted by Frosty 4:Why not just build a new ship!
They have and they are!
I'm just asking people to understand that if NCL did not buy both ships, they would have been scrapped years ago. I know the INDY bid was something like $30,000 over the scrap offer. A friend of mine was actually bidding on her for an Indian scrap merchant and was shocked when NCL outbid him in Sacramento. He was ready to get a delivery crew on board in Suisuin Bay.
Similar story for UNITED STATES. Scrappers were very keen on her before NCL stepped in and took her off the market. If anything, NCL has given people time to organize, make documentaries, and try to spread the news. After their Hawaiian operation stumbled, did anyone still expect them to put hundreds of millions of dollars into rebuilding either ship? In the meantime, no one has come to rescue either one. What NCL did, unwittingly, is give the ships a chance to really be saved. What they also did was emphasize the sad but true reality that not enough people care and that it is not a good investment, especially right now.
Maybe someone else will save UNITED STATES from the scrappers but it looks unlikely.
NCL/Star must have thrown quite a lot of money down the toilet buying, retaining and surveying Indy and the Big U.
As you know, the cynical 'word on the street', at the time, was that NCL simply purchased the SS United States to stop anybody else getting a big American Hull. I don't suppose we will ever know NCL's actual intentions. However I assume that NCLA was expected to be a real 'cash cow' with them having a monopoly on one week Hawaiian inter-island cruises. Therefore maybe they really did expect to need the SS United States.
Of course business climates can, and do, quickly change. I just wish Veitch had been a bit more measured (realistic) in his press releases. I feel like a child who was promised a new bike for Christmas but never got one.
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