December 10, 2024
Courtesy/Okaloosa County
Okaloosa County will have to pay a $100,000 fine to Penn Warehousing if the SS United States doesn't leave Pier 82 by midnight Thursday.
The new owner of the SS United States still doesn't have a date to move the historic vessel from South Philly despite a $100,000 fine that will be triggered at midnight Thursday.
The purchase agreement for the ship, which was signed Sept. 23, said that if it remained at Pier 82 after Dec. 12, Okaloosa County must pay a one-time penalty to landlord Penn Warehousing on top of the $3,400 daily rental fees it's been shelling out. After initial efforts to move the ocean liner last month were delayed, departure plans still haven't been finalized and the U.S. Coast Guard is assessing if it's even able make the journey.
Olinda Romero, a spokesperson for the Coast Guard, said there's a Captain of the Port order in place requiring testing to make sure the ship isn't too fragile to move, and there's no timeline on when those evaluations will be complete.
"As of right now, they're still just conducting testing and making sure that it's even seaworthy at this point," Romero said. "They're trying to make sure that once it leaves the port, that it wouldn't run into any issues. I believe that's why it is just taking a little bit longer than foreseen."
Nick Tomecek, a spokesperson for Okaloosa, said there hasn't been a new date because moving the ship requires coordination from multiple agencies, including the Coast Guard and Delaware River Port Authority, and good weather conditions. While the moving date is uncertain, he was confident that the trip can be done without incident.
"The ship was moved into there safely in 1996, and we're going to get it out safely again," Tomecek said.
The ship was originally scheduled to leave Philadelphia in a two-day process starting Nov. 14. Its departure was delayed to "ensure logistical details and procedures maintain ideal conditions for the move," citing a possible tropical storm that could have impeded the journey.
Okaloosa, a county in the Florida panhandle, purchased the ship from the SS United States Conservancy. County officials plan to tow the ship from Pier 82, where its been since 1996, to Mobile, Alabama, where it will be cleaned. After that, it will head to Okaloosa, which will spend $10.1 million to repurpose the vessel and sink it as an artificial reef off Destin-Fort Walton Beach. That project includes $1 million to open a nearby museum with some of the ship's artifacts.
Once it's sunk, it will be the largest artificial reef in the world, overtaking the USS Oriskany.
The vessel's storied history includes carrying four presidents and various celebrities over the years and holding the transatlantic speed record it set on its maiden voyage in 1952.
