Ocean Jewel up for auction

Monday, January 9, 2006

Post a comment | E-mail this story | Print

The financially troubled Ocean Jewel is up for auction.

The Ocean Jewel was supposed to bring thousands of people to downtown St. Petersburg every week. But mechanical problems and overwhelming debt forced owners to shut down.

Although the Ocean Jewel didn't have many passengers toward the end because of late schedules that stranded passengers, investors are lining up to purchase the ship. As many as 20 people were expected to participate in the auction Monday.

Ocean Jewel owners filed for bankruptcy August 1. But it wasn't until October when its fate would be publicly known. The Coast Guard ordered a safety overhaul, but the Ocean Jewel's owners didn't have the million dollars to comply.

Since then, the Ocean Jewel has been sitting at Tampa's ship repair yard as owners owe $70 million to more than 200 creditors.

In its short time in the Bay area, the Ocean Jewel gained notoriety for stranding passengers for several hours at a time. The ferry boats often experienced engine trouble, and worse, even collided with the John's Pass Bridge in Treasure Island.

The Ocean Jewel will likely operate in the future, but not in the United States. Some of the 20 bidders want to run the ship in locations such as Singapore, Brazil or India.

St. Petersburg Mayor Baker said the city will be in good shape financially regardless of the auction.

Each bidder will be required to make a $100,000 deposit to Titan Cruise Lines and supply proof they can pay for the boat.

St. Petersburg is owed more than $150,000.

"We are always going to seek opportunities to the city, and in this case we got a sizeable deposit," St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker said. "We actually made a lot of money from the Ocean Jewel during the course of the term. They put almost $200,000 worth of improvements to our port.

"Financially we are going to be in good shape no matter what happens at the auction, although we are obviously going to try to get our deposit back and get as much of our unpaid amounts as we can."

First American Bank was the main financier of the Ocean Jewel. The bank was second in line behind the City of St. Petersburg to receive payment after the auction. If the winning bid is too low, however, the bank can block the sale.