The art deco ferry christened the Kalakala but nicknamed the Silver Slug is still docked in the Port of Tacoma, hoping for a rescue.
That’s where the local angle begins and ends. But Knute Berger at Crosscut.com provides an update on attempts to find a way to restore and display the historic vessel.
His report is here.
They may as well sink it and turn it into a dive site. At least that way it will generate some money for the local economy instead of being a drain. Sunken ships cost nothing to maintain, create fish habitat and bring in tourism dollars from divers. If they’re going to keep it operational as a ship someone’s going to have to dump millions into it to start with and then continue to dump hundreds of thousands of dollars into it each year for maintenance, moorage and operations. The fact that no one really wants to put their own money into doing this speaks volumes about it’s financial viability.
The other option would be to haul it out of the water and make some sort of attraction out of it. Once you take the boat out of the water and stop expecting it’s machinery to work you eliminate about 90% of the maintenance costs.
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