France may extend a helping hand to its eponymous former passenger liner but preparations for a demolition sale are well underway.
Sources at Bremerhaven say Lloyd-Werft is expecting an order to remove auxiliary engines and other equipment before the 76,000-gt Norway (ex-France, built 1961) leaves for a breakers' beach.
The French government offered yesterday to give the cruiseship a " partial classification as a historical monument", entailing tax breaks to offset the expenses of investors who would purchase and restore the Ste Nazaire-built ship and bring it home to France.
