Unpaid bunker bills force arrested cruise ship switch
The arrest of cruise ship Athena last month for unpaid bunker bills and other expenses has forced a cruise operator to replace it with another vessel, Passat Kreuzfahrten's Delphin, for the upcoming Australian cruise season, the weekend edition of the The West Australian reported.
Last month the Classic International Cruises (CIC) ship was arrested in Marseilles, France where on November 12, 2012 it was due to depart on a 36 day cruise ending in Fremantle, Australia.
Classic International Cruises Australia (CIC Australia) who had originally chartered Athena, a different company to the European vessel owner CIC, said it has not taken the decision lightly.
"Having explored all avenues we, together with government authorities and industry partners, felt it prudent to substitute Athena now rather than hold out to the last minute and which may have seen some of our guests stranded in Europe," it said.
Athena is reported to have more than 6000 passengers booked on the Australian program and Grant Hunter, managing director of CIC Australia, has asked the travel industry and guests to be patient and allow time to make the transfer of passengers to Delphin.
"Our first and only priority was to ensure that our loyal guests were not stranded in Europe and that Australians who had booked a cruise this summer were catered for," said Hunter.
CIC has been working on a deal to free the vessel, with an agent at CIC Australia telling Ship & Bunker last week they were still taking bookings on the cruise and had been assured by CIC the situation would be resolved to allow the cruise to go ahead.
The latest developments raise questions as to when the vessel will be now be freed, with Tradewinds saying Friday that CIC's future hangs on its release.
A total of four CIC vessels have now been arrested.
Reports last month said CIC's founder George Potamianos died in May this year and Alexandros and Emilios, his twin sons who have taken over the running on the business, inherited a situation "of financial chaos."
