(Please forgive the faux news article)
Green Sea Shipbuilding Establishment may be finding itself at a monumental crossroads today. The great debate centers on the immediate future of the construcion side. Creatively, GSS is backlogged with proposals for new ships, many of which are badly wanted. However, storage space is still at a premium, despite the disposal of several unfinished hulls and the late cruise ship SOVEREIGN OF THE SEAS (which sailed to the scrapyard last week).
Adding to the panic, at least 2 new hull constructions are set to begin this summer. One, a mysterious "Super" ship, expected to be longer than the QUEEN MARY and by far the LARGEST ship ever for GSS.
Further complicating matters, there is a widescale effort in GSS to scale back the number of ships. GSS chairman Barrett Hochhaus ultimately wants to have fewer, higher-quality ships than the 10-15 ships once flourishing in the fleet. "I want to have a core of about 4 or 5 ships that I really like and regularly sail", Hochhause said. "These ships would each sail about once a month at least. Then we would have 2-4 more that are 'irregulars', that is they sail 1-3 times per year. The bottom line is, some of my classics like the ECSTASY are suffering lack of use. The ECSTASY for example was always supposed to make at least 100 voyages. That's the benchmark for a really successful career. We reached 25 voyages so easily, but now it is taking forever to reach 35."
Hochhaus has indicated that some ships, most notably the TITANIC may be offered for sale under the new plan. "One ship, which we are hoping to start building this month, is actually expected to be sold, but not before at least 1 year in the Green Sea Fleet. I have noticed that after 1 year, it is sometimes easier to part with these things."
The surface submarines ORCA and OBIHIRO as well as the carrier KAGA are also prime targets either for sail, sinking or scrapping. The battleship GRAF SPEE is expected to be sunk deliberately in a nearby lake later this summer and the NELSON may find herself on the scrapheap.
Even with the sale of the TITANIC, that would still leave 9 ships that would be hard to part with, PLUS the 2 more on the way.
For Green Sea Shipbuilding, it may prove too difficult to achieve such an aggressive streamlining.
