SS United States is seaworthy and its Florida owners say a move could begin Thursday

Things are allegedly looking up for the SS United States and the vessel could be on the way to its temporary home by Saturday, with a micro-move from one Philadelphia pier to another scheduled for Thursday.

As is often the case with the vessel, this is only a tentative schedule.

For those keeping track, the ship was slated to move mid-November in a much-anticipated departure from its current South Philadelphia berth at Pier 82. The move was initially delayed due to logistical and weather hiccups. Days later, the ship’s structural integrity came under U.S. Coast Guard scrutiny, requiring additional testing.

At the time, Coast Guard public affairs specialist Olinda Romero described the order to keep the ship in place for further testing as “very routine.” With the Coast Guard deeming the vessel seaworthy and able to withstand a two-week tow to Mobile, Ala., owners in Okaloosa County, Fla., plan to move the ship from its Pier 82 berth to Pier 80 at 8:21 p.m. Thursday — shifting the schedule after initially having initially set an early-morning departure. The next move would not take place until Saturday at 4 a.m., barring visibility issues, according to a tentative plan put out by Okaloosa officials.

In Mobile, the ship is slated to undergo environmental remediation before its final voyage to be sunk off the coast of the Florida Panhandle.

Delaware River Port Authority spokesperson Mike Williams said the Walt Whitman and Commodore Barry Bridges would remain open Saturday but traffic would be briefly paused “to minimize driver distraction as the SS United States passes underneath the spans.”

Few might be affected by the pause at the Walt Whitman, which is scheduled between 4 and 4:30 a.m., but the real delays could be for those seeking to take the Commodore Barry Bridge. After the Walt Whitman, the the ship isn’t slated to get to the Commodore Barry until five to six hours later. The pause to traffic there is set to run between 8 and 10 a.m.

The SS United States has adorned or blemished — depending on whom you ask — the Delaware River waterfront for close to 30 years, yet its last few have probably been the most eventful. The ship’s previous owners, the SS United States Conservancy, had long sought to have the vessel redeveloped to no avail, launching multiple SOS fundraisers to make rent. The vessel’s landlords thought they should be able to raise the daily dockage fee they had set in a 2011 berthing agreement, the conservancy cried foul, and, eventually, the landlord-tenant case landed in court before a federal judge.

» READ MORE: Various owners have sunk more than $40 million into buying, maintaining, and reimagining the SS United States during its time in Philly

Last summer, the judge hearing the case ordered the ship to be moved. To avoid the scrap heap, the conservancy partnered with Okaloosa County, which aims to become the artificial diving destination of the world with the SS United States as its main attraction.

Okaloosa County purchased the ship for $1 million and committed a further $9.1 million to clean, transport, and sink the vessel, as well as build a land-based museum to honor its history.