The cost of the Titan search campaign

Initial estimates put the search for the Titan submersible at more than $1.2 million, but it is unclear who will pay for it.

Upon learning that the OceanGate submersible Titan had gone missing on June 8 while exploring the wreckage of the Titanic at a depth of nearly 4,000 meters below the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, the US Coast Guard began a large-scale search operation. Many other US and Canadian forces then deployed equipment and personnel to search in the sea area about 600 kilometers from Newfoundland, Canada.

By the time the wreckage of the Titan was discovered on the seabed on June 22, the US government had spent at least $1.2 million, according to a preliminary estimate by Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), as well as research from the Washington Post .

Cancian said he based his figure on the cost of fuel, vehicle maintenance and manpower mobilized for the search. The final figure could be higher, because although the search ended midday on June 23, some experts and unmanned submersibles continued to stay at the scene to survey the debris.

A US HC-130 Hercules aircraft flies over Deep Energy during the search for the Titan submersible in the Atlantic Ocean on June 20. Photo: AFP

The question of how much it will cost and who will pay for it is still unanswered, as it depends on many factors. The search involves private companies and research vessels carrying remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). The US government will only pay for these organizations if they sign a contract with the Pentagon.

The Coast Guard is part of the Department of Homeland Security, but is supported by the Navy and Air Force, which are part of the Department of Defense. To pay for missions like sending planes to search the seas, the military uses “appropriated funds,” said Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman. “So there are flight hours that are paid for.”

However, the US military will also have to assume unexpected costs, according to Cancian, because manpower and equipment may be used for operations other than originally planned.

In addition to the US, a host of international resources were deployed, including the naval ship HMCS Glace Bay, the Coast Guard cutters John Cabot, Ann Harvey, Terry Fox, the CP-140 Aurora aircraft, the Canadian ship Horizon Arctic, the French research vessel L'Atalante, and ROVs from Magellan, an international exploration company.

The scale of the Titan search campaign. Click on the image to see details

Mikki Hastings, president of the National Search and Rescue Association, said information about the total cost of the search was unclear. "It's still ongoing, so we won't know the final figure for a while," Hastings said.

OceanGate Expedition, the company that owns and operates Titan, will not be required to reimburse the U.S. government for search costs, said Paul Zukunft, who commanded the U.S. Coast Guard from 2014 to 2018. "There is no difference between searching for a vessel for an organization and rescuing an individual. We are still searching and rescuing, we are not including them in the cost list," Zukunft said.

The Canadian government is believed to have deployed more resources to the search area than the United States, given the Titanic’s proximity to its territory and the urgency of the operation. Canadian officials have so far declined to comment on the cost of the search.

Three ships Horizon Arctic (top), Deep Energy (middle) and Skandi Vinland are searching for the Titan submersible in the Atlantic Ocean on June 22. Photo: AFP

"I don't have any information on the cost, but I believe it is not very important," Joyce Murray, Canada's minister of fisheries, oceans and the coast guard, told reporters on June 22. "The important thing is that we have the opportunity to search for and rescue the Titan."

“Nothing is too much,” Murray said. “We need to do everything we can because there are lives on the missing ship and we need to save them.”

The top priority in such operations is always saving lives, and search and rescue companies have budgets for that, Hastings said. Emergency services don’t want people in distress to have to think about the cost of deploying a helicopter or other resources to rescue them.

"Anyone who is missing deserves to be found. That's the mission, no matter who they are," said Ms. Hastings.

Nhu Tam (According to Washington Post, AP )

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