Settlement of Pier Dispute Clears Way for ss United States to be Reefed
The SS United States Conservancy has reached a settlement with Penn Warehousing & Distribution the company that controls the Philadelphia pier where the once famed ocean liner has sat for nearly 30 years. As part of the terms of the settlement, the title to the ship will be transferred in the coming days to Okaloosa County, Florida which is proceeding with its plans to sink the vessel to become the world’s largest artificial reef.
The non-profit confirmed in a statement today, October 11, that it has settled in the court-ordered mediation with its landlord. Terms of the agreement were not announced, but according to a briefing to the Okaloosa Board of County Commissioners, Okaloosa assumes the rent payments retroactively as of September 12 and faces a penalty if it does not remove the vessel by December 12. It will also pay up to a third of the cost of repairs to the pier’s bollards and fenders.
“Because of the court proceeding, we had a very limited time to find a new home for the ss United States. Despite intensive outreach to private pier owners, government agencies, elected officials, and public authorities at the local, state, and federal levels,” said Susan Gibbs, President of the SS United States Conservancy, “no suitable and available location was secured within the mandated schedule. While we have vetted various entities with proposals to purchase and relocate the ship, none satisfied our minimum due diligence or proved viable within our current timetable and logistical constraints.”
They blame the rent dispute and court decision to evict the ship for having “drastically impacted our plans for the ship’s long-term future.” The group had been seeking proposals to convert the ship into a multi-use attraction and was working with a real estate development company.
“Unable to save the ss United States in her current state and under a binding court order, we faced the painful but unavoidable choice between scrapping America’s Flagship or converting her into an artificial reef in tandem with a land-based museum. We chose the latter as the most dignified path,” said Gibbs. “While this is not the outcome we originally envisioned, the ship will have a future.”
Okaloosa Country’s Board of County Commissioners approved a $10.1 million budget earlier this month, including paying $1 million to acquire the vessel. The plan calls for the ship to be towed in the coming weeks from the Philadelphia berth that it has been sitting at since 1996 to a working berth in Norfolk, Virginia where the remediation efforts will begin to prepare the vessel for reefing. The tow is expected to take approximately two days. Observers noted this week that removal of the vessel’s anchors had begun.
The budget for the remediation is estimated nearly $7 million and will require many months. It will entail emptying and cleaning the vessel’s fuel tanks, removal of remaining contaminants, scraping the loose paint and deck materials, and removal of the funnels and radar mast.
The Conservancy plans to develop a museum and visitor center to which Okaloosa County will contribute $1 million. The plan calls for incorporating one or both funnels, the mast, and recreating spaces as well as displaying the Conservancy’s collection of artworks and artifacts from the vessel.
Retired from commercial service in 1969 after sailing for just 17 years, the sale of the ss United States ends a more than 40-year effort to repurpose the vessel. She took the speed title for the fastest Atlantic crossing by a passenger ship in 1952 and still holds the honor. She transported many passengers mostly on the Atlantic crossing between New York, England, France, or Germany, as well as military personnel, dependents, and government personnel during her career which was cut short by the end of the passenger liner era. She is one of the last surviving examples of the grand era of passenger liners.
Okaloosa County has identified several locations near Destin and Fort Walton Beach for the reefing. The goal is to create a tourist attraction that they hope will attract recreational divers to the region in Florida’s panhandle.