Photo courtesy of Flickr member sigma
A gentleman in Izmir, Turkey sent Derek Punaro some amazing pictures of the Aquarama/Marine Star - formerly rusting on the Buffalo lakeshore - being dismantled for salvage. It’s incredible to see this familiar object in unfamiliar waters being taken apart at the port in Aliaga. See ya, Aquarama!
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Terry Says:March 2nd, 2008 at 12:30 pm
I am curious to the dollar amount the scrap metal, etc., brings….fascinating. Great pics as well
Derek J. Punaro Says:March 2nd, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Actually, the person who sent me the photos was from Nidda, Germany, but the photographer was from Turkey. Regardless of anyone’s feelings towards the ship, the journey it took to the end garnered international interest. That itself is pretty amazing.
Terry Says:March 2nd, 2008 at 3:53 pm
A ship’s death is always a sad thing
Greg Says:March 3rd, 2008 at 10:53 am
even more jobs Buffalo loses out on. It couldn’t have been dismantled and scrapped here?
jay in Detroit Says:March 3rd, 2008 at 11:53 am
The widely-guessed scrap value of the ship was about $1 million USD. The widely estimated cost of the tow was in excess of $1 million USD.
Why wasn’t she simply cut up on this side of the Atlantic? One untold aspect of the story is that in 1945 when the S.S. Marine Star was built, “hazardous material” was not an issue that received much attention. However, if the ship were scrapped in North America, the HAZ MAT issue would be a major and costly one. There’s very likely lead paint on the hull and elsewhere in the ship. You would find asbestos in the boiler lines and steam runs. The remaining fluids in the ship probably could also qualify as hazardous waste. Lack of HAZ MAT enforcement is a primary reason why India and Turkey are ship-cutting centers. And shall we speculate that ship-cutting labor is a fraction in either of those places of what it would be here?
I’m one of the “Aquarama admirers”; I’ve always had a weakness for her. I was on the ship in 1960. Precious memories. But in the real world, she was obsolete scrap MANY years ago. To repeat, the price of scrap finally rose enough to catch up with the Aquarama.
IMO, it still cost them money to scrap her in Turkey. But it cost less than it would have on this side of the big pond. Probably in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Again, IMO, they got seriously “upside down” with this ship.
To answer another burning question, she would have been scrapped many years ago had the world market price of scrap not been depressed. The market finally came up to a point where the owner (s) felt like they could finally cut their losses.
jay in Detroit Says:March 3rd, 2008 at 11:53 am
The widely-guessed scrap value of the ship was about $1 million USD. The widely estimated cost of the tow was in excess of $1 million USD.
Why wasn’t she simply cut up on this side of the Atlantic? One untold aspect of the story is that in 1945 when the S.S. Marine Star was built, “hazardous material” was not an issue that received much attention. However, if the ship were scrapped in North America, the HAZ MAT issue would be a major and costly one. There’s very likely lead paint on the hull and elsewhere in the ship. You would find asbestos in the boiler lines and steam runs. The remaining fluids in the ship probably could also qualify as hazardous waste. Lack of HAZ MAT enforcement is a primary reason why India and Turkey are ship-cutting centers. And shall we speculate that ship-cutting labor is a fraction in either of those places of what it would be here?
I’m one of the “Aquarama admirers”; I’ve always had a weakness for her. I was on the ship in 1960. Precious memories. But in the real world, she was obsolete scrap MANY years ago. To repeat, the price of scrap finally rose enough to catch up with the Aquarama.
IMO, it still cost them money to scrap her in Turkey. But it cost less than it would have on this side of the big pond. Probably in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Again, IMO, they got seriously “upside down” with this ship.
To answer another burning question, she would have been scrapped many years ago had the world market price of scrap not been depressed. The market finally came up to a point where the owner (s) felt like they could finally cut their losses.
jay in Detroit Says:March 3rd, 2008 at 11:53 am
The widely-guessed scrap value of the ship was about $1 million USD. The widely estimated cost of the tow was in excess of $1 million USD.
Why wasn’t she simply cut up on this side of the Atlantic? One untold aspect of the story is that in 1945 when the S.S. Marine Star was built, “hazardous material” was not an issue that received much attention. However, if the ship were scrapped in North America, the HAZ MAT issue would be a major and costly one. There’s very likely lead paint on the hull and elsewhere in the ship. You would find asbestos in the boiler lines and steam runs. The remaining fluids in the ship probably could also qualify as hazardous waste. Lack of HAZ MAT enforcement is a primary reason why India and Turkey are ship-cutting centers. And shall we speculate that ship-cutting labor is a fraction in either of those places of what it would be here?
I’m one of the “Aquarama admirers”; I’ve always had a weakness for her. I was on the ship in 1960. Precious memories. But in the real world, she was obsolete scrap MANY years ago. To repeat, the price of scrap finally rose enough to catch up with the Aquarama.
IMO, it still cost them money to scrap her in Turkey. But it cost less than it would have on this side of the big pond. Probably in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Again, IMO, they got seriously “upside down” with this ship.
To answer another burning question, she would have been scrapped many years ago had the world market price of scrap not been depressed. The market finally came up to a point where the owner (s) felt like they could finally cut their losses.