Structure that blocked path of cruise liner to be dismantled.
A pier-side “sculpture” at the port of San Juan, Puerto Rico that blocked a Carnival cruise ship from visiting in December is being dismantled.
The Associated Press today reports demolition of the giant steel structure began over the weekend with explosives placed at its corners. In upcoming days, a demolition crew will pull apart steel rods holding the structure together and cut it into pieces to remove it,
Back in December, the structure made it impossible for the 130,000-ton Carnival Dream to dock at the berth to which it had been assigned. Another dock that could have accommodated the Dream already was occupied by another vessel.
The structure, which looks like a giant paper airplane propped up by gray legs and runs nearly the full length of the pier, was installed in 2006 as part of a $30 million project to improve the island’s port facilities. In what many observers will no doubt view as an ironic twist, it was designed and paid for in part by Carnival’s biggest rival, Royal Caribbean.
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