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The future of a record-breaking historic cruise ship is in doubt after the SS United States Conservancy revealed Wednesday that it needs $60,000 per month to keep the rehabilitation project going, Philadelphia's NBC 10 reported.
And those costs are just to cover docking and maintaining the ship.
The luxury passenger liner, which still owns the trans-Atlantic speed record, was launched more than half of a century ago and is currently docked in Philadelphia.
The Titanic-sized vessel has been out of service since the late 1960s but is now at risk of becoming scrap metal.
The conservancy succeeded in saving the ship from destruction after purchasing it in 2011, but lacks the financial resources necessary to sustain its preservation efforts.
Therefore, the group is seeking donors, investors and buyers who can maintain the ship or potentially develop it, perhaps turning it into a new tourist attraction. But time is running out and the conservancy has set Oct. 31 as its deadline.
"We will have no choice but to negotiate the sale of the ship to a responsible recycler," the group said in a statement via the New York Times.
Gibbs & Cox's Vice President for Design Keith Harper told the Times that a redevelopment plan is in the works. Harper said a real estate developer hired the firm last year to explore possible uses for the ship, including hotels, restaurants and other attractions.
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