Hull of paddlewheeler could become floating dock for cruise ships in Wrangell
- Wrangell Sentinel
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
By Jonathon Dawe
Wrangell Sentinel
Workers have started taking apart a 360-foot-long paddlewheel cruise ship at the scrap metal recycling operation at 6-Mile to possibly reuse the hull as a new downtown floating dock for cruise ships.
Tideline Construction has started work dismantling the American Empress, an American Cruise Lines vessel now tied up at the former mill property.
Tideline plans to remove the 23-year-old ship’s upper structure. The hull would then be reused as a 300-by-60-foot floating dock if the borough and the cruise line can reach a final lease agreement on the downtown port addition.
When reached for further details on Nov. 25, Alexa Paolella with American Cruise Lines provided limited information. “We are converting (the American Empress) to a deck barge, but don’t have any other info or comment about the project presently,” she said.
Borough Manager Mason Villarma said the decision to move the ship to Wrangell was a strategic step by American Cruise Lines.
The ship arrived Nov. 13. It was anchored last year at Astoria, Oregon, and has not operated the past two cruise seasons.
“It was more of a preemptive move,” Villarma said. “I wouldn’t say there is necessarily a rush to dismantle it per se. Obviously, we want it to be done as efficiently as possible. I think it’s possible it won’t be completely finished and ready for placement until spring.”
The ship owner has a contract with Tideline Construction “to carry out the demolition of the superstructure and complete the retrofit needed for use as a floating dock,” Villarma said in a subsequent interview Nov. 26.
The borough and American Cruise Lines are working out lease terms for a new downtown dock to accommodate the company’s ships that stay overnight.
“We will have the community town hall on Dec. 15 and will present the information and any lease proposal to the public,” the manager said earlier in November. “It is at that meeting that we will be able to speak about the numbers as far as a potential return on the (borough’s) investment.”
The presentation and question-and-answer session is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Dec. 15 at the Nolan Center.
If the borough decides to proceed, the assembly could vote on a lease at its Dec. 16 or Jan. 13 meeting, he said.
Villarma said turning the hull into a floating dock is a practical step for the company and for Wrangell’s port plans.
According to the Seattle Post Intelligencer, the American Empress is a diesel-electric paddle wheeler. It was built in 2002 at the Nichols Brothers yard on Whidbey Island, Washington, for about $50 million. The ship entered service in 2003 as the Empress of the North for Majestic America Line. It was listed for 223 passengers and sailed Alaska’s Inside Passage, the Pacific Northwest and Columbia River.
The Empress last cruised Southeast Alaska waters in 2008, when it canceled its last six sailings of the summer due to weak bookings, according to a news report that June from KSTK.
American Queen Voyages bought the vessel in 2013. The company renamed it the American Empress, and the ship began sailing from Portland in 2014, touring Pacific Northwest rivers.
American Cruise Lines acquired the vessel in 2024 after American Queen Voyages went bankrupt. The company bought four riverboat cruise ships in the bankruptcy sale for a total of $6 million, immediately announcing it would scrap at least two of them, according to news reports in May 2024.
The 6-Mile property is closed to the public. To protect workers and nearby residents, the police department has been told to increase patrols in the area. Extra attention will be given while dismantling work is underway on the ship.
• This story originally appeared in the Wrangell Sentinel.
