Supreme Court approves Dismantling!

BREAKING NEWS: ssnorway.no can as the first website in the world give you the news that the Supreme Court in india has just approved the breaking of the Blue Lady.

Last friday the government told the Supreme Court that all the required mechanisms, with regard to decontamination of the hazardous material on board SS Norway, have been complied with, thus paving the way for it to be dismantled. Today the supreme court finally made their desicion on the faith of the beautiful oceanliner which has been lying on the beach in Alang for more the 1 year.

ETA: Now that I've watched the video, I'm feeling a bit verklempt!!!

[ 09-11-2007: Message edited by: Rex ]

[ 09-11-2007: Message edited by: dmwnc1 ]

If the ship breakers can not drag the ex ss Norway closer to the beach, before starting to cut her up, I would think it is going to cost them a lot more to get the metal ashore plus the chance of more accidents and workers injured.

There is also less chance of anyone seeing the full extent of the damage, caused by the boiler explosion, while she is some way out from the beach, and what has been contaminated by the asbestos.

The SS Norway was nothing more than a political wildcard. That's why the shipbreakers couldn't let this ship go. They needed a way for the law to work on their side. Now that their mission has been met, they don't need the SS Norway anymore. It did its job so that no one else can challenge the shipbreakers again. As for the Indian Supreme Court: The Biggest Jokers in the World.

The breakers only care about one thing: Money, Money, Money......MONEY!!!!!

As for their people needing jobs: More like a death sentence for slave labor.

[ 09-12-2007: Message edited by: Redlinekid2 ]

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Originally posted by Redlinekid2:
The breakers only care about one thing: Money, Money, Money......MONEY!!!!!

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Yes, their focus is not suprisingly 'breaking ships' for profit. Health & Safety at work is proably not a primary concern, earning a living is.

Even in the 'first world', pleanty of workers are injured, die or experience ill health becuse of their jobs.

Had NCL / Star Cruises had the asbestos removed before the ship went to Alang then she would not have sat there so long and would by now have been a skeleton.

By not doing this NCL / Star cruises saved money when they disposed of her !

So they are the real people to blame for the ship sitting there so long as they sold the ship with the asbestos still on board.

All the court cases have been doing is to try and protect the poorly paid workers at the breakers yards from asbestos poisoning or other health hazzards.

The question now is what will happen to her and is she going to be broken up.

The ship breakers said that she can not be moved but with the right powerful tugs I think they could move her into deeper water again on a high tide if they decided to sell her.

They will also need her nearer to the beach to break her up if that does happen.

With her engine and other oils already removed and no power on board it looks as if her lifeboats could be nose diving into the mud if her davits have not been maintained for at least the last two years.

Thats if her lifeboats can still be lowered !

Neil ( Bob )

[ 09-12-2007: Message edited by: Neil Whitmore ( Bob ) ]

I guess I was wrong..

I am so sad and mad right now!

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Originally posted by Cunard Fan:
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If this was just some other ship then that would be one thing but its not, its the last real French Liner! ... Its just such a sad lost to me. I really wish I had cruised on her or at least seen her, never did...

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Cunard Fan, get a grip--you still have a chance to sail on one of the last "real French liners!" She's called THE SERENADE and sails weekly out of Cyprus for Louis Cruises. Yes, it means having to travel because she is not sailing out of our own back yard, but then, none of the classic ships do that any more.

Rich

[ 09-12-2007: Message edited by: Linerrich ]

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Originally posted by Cunard Fan:
[...] its the last real French Liner! [...]

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It does not make this sad story any better - but don't forget that there is one French 'liner' left you can still travel with (if that is important for you) - she is not a fast ship built for the North Atlantic, but she still is/was a french 'liner' : (you might want to hurry up )

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Originally posted by Ernst:

It does not make this sad story any better - but don't forget that there is one French 'liner' left you can still travel with (if that is important for you) - she is not a fast ship built for the North Atlantic, but she still is/was a french 'liner' : (you might want to hurry up )

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Sorry.

Check your history books folks...NCL has done nothing that CGT, Cunard, White Star, NGL, etc. didn't do; they sold a ship to the breakers. Period.

BTW, Ernst, lovely photo of a lovely ship. Thanks!

-Russ

[ 09-12-2007: Message edited by: linerguy ]

She had her day, even if it had not been her boilers the oil price would have finished her off, yes a lovely ship, yes many who sailed on her probably have some great vacation memories but she is after all a ship and ALL ships meet and are designed to meet a definative end, she indeed was luckly to have lasted so long.

Her fate as a hotel or similar was never to be, indeed I am amazed that Dubai want QE2. Can you imagine if every ship of any significance was saved and turned into a hotel or similar, our harbours and rivers would be full of rusting hulks that no one visits. One or 2 of them will make it but they can't all have further uses, financially not one has ever made a profit. I miss the old Windsor Castle but don't want her parked in Durban harbour where I would have to watch her deteriorate every time I looked out my windows.

You may hate the idea but if ships were to be hotels it is not the old ones that are suitable, it is the new Pride of Americas that lend themselves to conversion, standard rooms, state of the art theatres, conference facilities, multiple restaurants etc. Imagine a POA in every town ! No thanks send them all to Alang.

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Originally posted by mike sa:
Sorry are we talking about a ship here or Marilyn Monroe ?

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Originally posted by VDK:
Other than her funnels and a couple of rooms on board, I fail to see that NORWAY was anything really special. Don't get me wrong I do understand that she was the FRANCE and in that alone there is significance but its seems most of what made her the FRANCE is long gone and much of her interior is, well nothing that special - at least from what I have seen.

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There is a lot of truth in what you say. Yes, the NORWAY was special because she had been the FRANCE, but very little of the French liner remained, especially after the several refits, enhancements and improvements. By the end, other than the forward staircase ballustrades and the tourist class wall panels in the elevator lobbies, nearly everything else CGT was gone.

For people looking for the original experience, they could still book one of the numerous cabins which had much of the CGT fittings. But most of these cabins were small, with quirky old-fashioned plumbing, and the outside cabins offered portholes, not bright and airy windows or balconies. Frankly, and this seems blasphemous, the best accommodations on NORWAY were the much-maligned Sun Deck and Sky Deck suites added in 1990!

For me, though, it was just the opportunity of being on the old ship that was special, although basically inside she was a totally different ship. I was fortunate to make 11 cruises on her, and was aboard her literally dozens of more times on Saturdays in Miami. It seems that the most vocal of the whinging, whining critics of NORWAY's situation are those who never set foot on her. I'm sorry they did not get to experience her, and I know how they feel. It's the same way I felt in the early 1970s as a teenager, when literally hundreds of passenger ships were being scrapped, sometimes one or two each week! There were many classic ships I had planned to see which were snatched away, some after only 10 or 12 years in service!