[quote=“Southtowns27,post:65,topic:32424"”]
To answer a few questions…
[/quote]
GREAT post. I learned something today. :tup:
Sad to see her go, but I guess that was inevitable. Doesn’t sound like it had been under it’s own power since the sixties. 
Bump.
Little update:
Tug arrives in Trois-Rivières to tow Marine Star/Aquarama
8/1 - Trois-Rivières - Coming up the St. Lawrence River Monday was Panamanian registered tug Ateos Z. The vessel is coming from Cabo Verde Island to pick-up the Aquarama/Marine Star which is rafted to the Canadian Mariner at Section #1.
The vessel was reportedly sold and will be towed to Greece. The final arrangements for the sale have yet to be finalized and there is no known departure date from Trois-Rivieres to date.
[quote=“BrockwayMT,post:76,topic:32424"”]
Yes and yes. Yes to the first thing. As for great historical importance, at least one of the grain elevators around Buffalo ought to be saved.
[/quote]
I agree on saving at least one, but get rid of the rest.
Greece, eh?
Wonder if they are making a med. cruiser.
Doubt it. My guess is it’s final destination is still going to be India, at a scrapper.
the best plan of attack with a ship like that is to send itto a country with no safety regulations and pay people $1 an hour o cut it up
i think it was mentioned earlier in this thread that since the ship hasnt been seaworthy in years, EVERYTHING would have to be upgraded to current specs
safety
fireproof materials
emisions
water system
kitchens
…everything, ad in any hull repairs it might need, all new electronics …
and thats after asbestos removal
but if you send it to one of the sweatshop countries and just ingnore all the safety hazards for the workers, you wind up with a metric shit-ton of scrap steal for what people, shipping, storage and cutting torches cost
[quote=“TrueBlue,post:81,topic:32424"”]
GREAT post. I learned something today. :tup:
[/quote]
+1. Good stuff Southtowns27
[quote=“HotRodKid,post:86,topic:32424"”]
the best plan of attack with a ship like that is to send itto a country with no safety regulations and pay people $1 an hour o cut it up
i think it was mentioned earlier in this thread that since the ship hasnt been seaworthy in years, EVERYTHING would have to be upgraded to current specs
safety
fireproof materials
emisions
water system
kitchens
…everything, ad in any hull repairs it might need, all new electronics …
and thats after asbestos removal
but if you send it to one of the sweatshop countries and just ingnore all the safety hazards for the workers, you wind up with a metric shit-ton of scrap steal for what people, shipping, storage and cutting torches cost
[/quote]
That’s the consensus as to where it’s going. That nasty ship breaking beach in India that was the subject of a documentary a few years ago.
some info off greenpeace
Asian states
In the 1970s shipbreaking was concentrated in Europe. Performed at docks, it was a highly mechanised industrial operation. But the costs of upholding environmental, health and safety standards increased. So the shipping industry moved to poorer Asian states.Pristine beaches
A lot of ships end on the once pristine beaches of India, Bangladesh, China, Pakistan and Turkey. Workers there scrap the ships without any protection. Toxic waste is released into the environment. The only ones who profit are the ship owners. They extract an average US$ 1.9 million profit per End of Life Vessel.Scrap market
Every year around 600-700 larger sea vessels are taken out of service and brought to Asia for scrap. In the 1990s they had an aggregate tonnage of around 15 million dwt a year. However, the scrap market increases and will increase substantially the following years. In 2001 the total number of vessels (608) sold for scrap already totalled a figure of 28 million dwt. This marks a year on year growth of nearly 25% (Source E.A. Gibson Shipbrokers).
BUMP Heading to Turkey, not India.
Still sounds like a scrap yard though.
http://www.buffalonews.com/businesstoday/localbusiness/story/137305.html
Rebirth or oblivion?: Passenger ferry on its way from Buffalo to Turkey
Marine Star’s fate as scrap or casino is unknown
By Sharon LinstedtNEWS STAFF REPORTER
Updated: 08/09/07 8:47 AMThe Marine Star, the rusting passenger ferry that spent more than a decade sitting on the Buffalo waterfront, is on its way to Turkey.
But it is still not known whether the once-proud ship is headed to the scrap yard or new life as a floating casino.
The 62-year-old military shipturned- luxury Great Lakes ferry departed South End Marina on Buffalo’s Outer Harbor on July 15, towed by a tug boat through the Welland Canal and up the St. Lawrence Seaway to Trois Rivieres, Quebec. After a two-week layover in Trois Rivieres, the Marine Star resumed her journey Saturday morning under tow by a Greek-owned tug, the Aetos Z.
James Everatt, an Ontario businessman with ownership ties to the vessel, did not return phone calls regarding the Marine Star, but sources in Quebec confirmed this week that the final destination is Turkey.
TradeWinds, an international shipping publication, reports the 62-year-old ship in bound for Aliaga, Turkey, on the Aegean coast. The maritime journal described its trip as a “one-way voyage to oblivion.”
There are indications it will be towed to Leyal Ship Dismantling, Turkey’s largest ship recycling center.
“The impending scrapping . . . is generally regarded as a major blow to those who appreciate maritime history. The Marine Star is one of the final vessels afloat designed by the late George Sharp, who some regard as the best-ever naval architect,” TradeWinds reported in its Aug. 2 edition.
But according to the port authority in Trois Rivieres, there was still talk of the 520-foot vessel being redone as a luxury gaming ship when it was moored there.
“We were told it is going to become a casino, not scrap. Who can know for sure?” said a port representative who asked not to be identified.
Because the Marine Star is categorized as a “dead ship” and is not traveling under its own power, its owners are not required to file official documents with the Canadian government detailing the purpose of its travels and its destination.
When the ship was hauled out of Buffalo after sitting on the waterfront for a dozen years, several marine sources said it was headed to a ship scrap yard in Alang, India.
Others insisted it was being taken to Europe for refurbishing.
As recently as June, Everatt said he and his partners had not abandoned their dream of a $40 million conversion to a high-end Great Lakes cruise liner. The owners previously had floated plans to turn it into a gambling boat, but that plan was shelved due to legal issues.
Everatt has not commented publicly on the Marine Star’s future since it left Buffalo.
Built in 1945 as a military troop transport ship, it underwent an $8 million transformation to a luxury passenger ferry, renamed the S.S. Aquarama, at the end of World War II. At one time it was the largest ferry on the Great Lakes, with room for 2,500 passengers and 160 vehicles.
It also set the bar on ferry amenities, with four restaurants, two dance floors, a children’s playroom and baby-sitting services. But within a decade, its glamour was overshadowed by its operating expenses, and it has been docked since the mid-1960s.
i hope they don’t scrap it.
[quote=“JayS,post:90,topic:32424"”]
BUMP Heading to Turkey, not India.
Still sounds like a scrap yard though.
http://www.buffalonews.com/businesstoday/localbusiness/story/137305.html
[/quote]
Turkey is on the way to India 
That thing is scrap.
[quote=“newman,post:91,topic:32424"”]
i hope they don’t scrap it.
[/quote]
hmm, why the hell not?
Are there any cruise ships on the great lakes? Instead of a Carribbean cruise, it’d be cool to like take a cruise from Buffalo to Chicago. Then again, cruises tend to have cool stops, of which there are none on the Great Lakes. Hmm… Water water every wear but not a place to go?
Miss Buffalo, the Niagara Clipper and the Grand Lady, but they’re booze/dinner cruises. I’ve never seen a real cruise anywhere near Buffalo harbor.
[quote=“BikerFry,post:94,topic:32424"”]
Are there any cruise ships on the great lakes? Instead of a Carribbean cruise, it’d be cool to like take a cruise from Buffalo to Chicago. Then again, cruises tend to have cool stops, of which there are none on the Great Lakes. Hmm… Water water every wear but not a place to go?
[/quote]
I imagine any halfway decently sized ship would not ride right in the great lakes. That’s one reason why this ship sucked in freshwater use.
[quote=“Joe,post:96,topic:32424"”]
I imagine any halfway decently sized ship would not ride right in the great lakes. That’s one reason why this ship sucked in freshwater use.
[/quote]
Uh… ever see one of these?
You can build huge ships that work great in the great lakes. The problem is finding people to want to ride around on them.
i was talking about existing ocean based cruise ships and trying to say that conventional designs wouldnt work, theyd have to have special ones for lake use.
high startup cost + low revenue = poor investment
They should have converted the aquarama to a hockey rink and made the sabres play all their games on it.
^ I started to :lol:, then it was more of a :eyebrow:…