…Hapag-Lloyd Cruises Cuts Steel for 2nd Expedition Ship***
All ships belonging to Varun Resources Limited have been banned from calling the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ports, the country’s transport authority said.
India-based LPG ship owning company is a repeat offender when it comes to seafarer abandonment cases in UAE ports and waters.
The latest instance of crew abandonment involves the company’s 1991-built ship Maharshi Vamandeva.
The ship’s crew has been abandoned and left without basic provisions and fuel as well as lack of medical care. The LPG tanker is at anchor off Fujairah, according to its latest AIS data.
The seafarers have also been denied their salaries.
“We hereby urge all ports and ships’ agents to comply with this circular and stop dealing with subject company’s ships to avoid liabilities,” the transport authority added.
A number of the company’s ships have been arrested in various countries due to unpaid bills.
To remind, in June this year, the 2006-built crude oil tanker Ocean Mare was arrested in Singapore, most likely due to unresolved payments.
In addition, the arrest of Maharshi Bhavatreya was ordered by the Bombay High Court earlier this year on the request of unpaid workers of the ship.
Varun owns eight LPG carriers, majority flagged in South Korea, mostly built in the 1990s, the oldest one being built in 1982.
The fleet is comprised of Maharshi Bhardwaj, Maharshi Vamadeva, Maharshi Bhavatreya, Maharshi Krishnatreya, Maharshi Mahatreya, Maharshi Devatreya, Maharshi Atreya and Maharshi Shubhatreya, the company’s website info shows.
In the meantime, German cruise company Hapag-Lloyd Cruises launched the construction of its second expedition ship HANSEATIC inspiration with a steel cutting ceremony on October 5, 2017.
The steel for the new vessel, which is expected to hit the water in 2019, was cut at the Romanian VARD shipyard in Tulcea.
The contract for the two expedition ships, which will be positioned in the five-star expedition segment, was awarded to the Norwegian VARD Group, a subsidiary of the Italian shipbuilding company Fincantieri.
HANSEATIC inspiration’s hull will be built in Tulcea, before being transported to the VARD Langsten shipyard in Norway for the interior fitting.
The two expedition ships, slated to launch in 2019, are an investment by the tourism group TUI Group on behalf of its Hamburg-based subsidiary. In terms of its growth strategy, TUI is focusing increasingly on the development of its own hotels and cruise ships.
With HANSEATIC nature and HANSEATIC inspiration, the company is further expanding its fleet and developing its role in the expedition segment.
“The demand for expedition cruising is three times higher than supply and so with our two new builds we shall be ideally prepared for the future and also satisfy the international marketplace. Hapag-Lloyd Cruises is growing, which underlines the TUI Group’s strategy in the cruise segment. The HANSEATIC inspiration will be marketed to an English-speaking audience,” Karl J. Pojer, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, said.
HANSEATIC nature and HANSEATIC inspiration, identical in design, will be fitted with cutting-edge equipment and environmental technology and will be able to accommodate up to 230 guests and up to 199 guests on Antarctic cruises, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises said.
They will also have the highest ice class for passenger ships PC6 so they will be used in the polar regions the Arctic and Antarctic, as well as in warmer destinations such as the Amazon and the South Seas.
World Maritime News
