I was recently consulted to advise on the removal of an 18,000 Ton sunken dry-dock located in the Mobile River by a scrap metal recycler that was very excited to have gotten a contract to remove it. I had previously bid this wreck removal on three different occasions for three different Marine Salvage Companies and estimated the cost of removal at around 1.4M. The owner of the dry-dock kept trying to apply the value of recovered scrap metal into the equation but I would not place any value on the scrap as part of the contract.
Dollar signs clouded this clients vision, thinking about the value of 18,000 tons of steel just waiting to be processed and he didn't blink an eye at the thought of spending a million plus just to get started. The catch was that the weight he was estimating on was displacement tonnage, not the weight of the dry-dock. A simple calculation of the known light-draft and physical dimensions demonstrated that at best, the dock weighed about 6500 short tons. Once I pointed this out to my client, he was on the phone to his lawyers trying to bust his contract. He may spend several thousand in legal costs to get out of this deal but there was some intentional subterfuge on the part of the owner in that they were well aware that the dead-weight of this dock was not anywhere near 18,000 tons. Even with the costs of litigation, my client will get out with much smaller losses than if he were to proceed with a project that was destined to create negative cash flow and substantial loss. It might be enough leverage against the owner to apply costs of removal to their contract.