The SS United States, a 1,000-foot vessel that still holds the transatlantic speed record it broke in 1952, must leave its South Philadelphia berth of more than a decade by Sept. 12, said a federal judge Friday.
The decision by U.S. District Judge Anita B. Brody put an end to a years-old rent dispute that culminated in a two-day January bench trial between the SS United States Conservancy, a steward of the ship, and its Pier 82 landlord, Penn Warehousing.
Tensions came to a boil in August 2021, when Penn Warehousing doubled its daily dockage fee for what was once known as the “Queen of the Seas” to $1,700, an increase the conservancy refused to accept, continuing to pay its previous rate, set in 2011. Penn Warehousing terminated the lease in March 2022 with a written notice, then took the conservancy to court, with the conservancy filing a counterclaim.
During the trial, attorneys for both sides tried to bend the vagueness of the original berthing agreement in their favor. Brody, who’d encouraged the parties to settle instead of leaving it up to her, ultimately gave each side a partial victory in her decision.
She took note of two key omissions in the original berthing agreement. There were no provisions for any change in the “lay up dockage fee” or provisions on how either party could end the relationship save for the vessel’s departure. Penn Warehousing’s demand for increased dockage fees with a 14-days notice “finds no support in the Berthing Agreement or contract law,” she wrote, and the conservancy’s failure to pay the new rate did not amount to a breach of the 2011 agreement or entitle its landlord to damages.
Still, Brody wrote that under Pennsylvania contract law, the berthing agreement is terminable at will with reasonable notice, which Penn Warehousing had issued in March 2022.
Susan Gibbs, conservancy president and granddaughter of the ship’s designer, said in a statement that the conservancy “was vindicated in not being compelled to pay a large sum of back rent.” Yet she lamented the ticking clock the conservancy is now under.
“The judge’s decision gives us a very limited window to find a new home for the SS United States and raise the resources necessary to move the ship and keep her safe,” she wrote.
The decision gives the conservancy about 90 days to find a new home. In addition to finding a location, Gibbs said the conservancy would need funds for insurance, tugs, surveys, and dock preparations for a move.
Penn Warehousing takes no joy in the victory, attorney Craig Mills said in an emailed statement.
“The best hope of everyone involved was that the Conservancy could successfully repurpose the ship,” he said. “But after decades of decay and delay, it is time to acknowledge the unavoidable and return Pier 82 to productive commercial service.”
