Why is the scrapping of the Willow paddleboat steamer still dragging on in Benalmádena marina?

It’s been a while since its striking deck could be seen, but the remains of the USCGC Willow paddleboat steamer still lie in the port of Benalmádena. This vessel, built between 1924 and 1927 to serve the United States coast guard on the legendary Mississippi River, met its end in March 2019, a victim of an easterly storm, after having been converted into a floating nightclub, restaurant and leisure boat.

In January of this year, the municipal company Puerto Deportivo de Benalmádena announced the start of work on the scrapping of this impressive vessel, 61 metres long and 20 metres wide, which was built as a side-wheel steamer.

The contract was awarded to a specialised company for just over 300,000 euros and had a deadline of one month, but the company, after requesting an extension, gave up in June. The task has now been entrusted to the company that came second in the tender, which has taken up the work again this July without any increase in cost, according to the town hall.

The council justified the delay by citing the complexity of the operation. “The work is proving extremely complicated because it involves coordinating several tasks at once: the underwater operations carried out by the divers, the cutting of the ship’s parts using diamond wire, and the heavy machinery used to extract and dismantle the parts once they’re out,” explained the councillor for the port, José Luis Bergillos.

The council said that the scrapping is entering its final phase in the central part of the vessel, since the bow and stern of the Willow have already been scrapped, and it stressed the importance of having put an end to the "bad image" caused by a semi-sunken vessel of such dimensions.

"The remaining pieces are underwater, and are being cut and removed little by little, and a dangerous element is being eliminated, both for users and for the marine ecosystem itself," the councillor said.

IU-Podemos spokesman, Pablo Centella, criticised the fact that these works are "taking forever" and that the peak tourist season has arrived with delays not only in these tasks, but also in other work in Arroyo de la Miel and Benalmádena Pueblo. He announced that he will ask for explanations in the next full council meeting.

The Willow is occupying 19 berths in Benalmádena marina, which accounts for a loss of revenue of about 150,000 euros per year, according to the town hall.