Cruise passengers left stranded by ship’s marine growth
After a potentially dangerous growth was discovered on the ship’s hull, hundreds of passengers were left stranded aboard a cruise vessel off Australia.
Authorities discovered that the Viking Orion had “biofoul”, which is an accumulation of microorganisms and plants, as well as small animals, in Adelaide, which prevented it from docking.
This allows invasive species to be brought into non-native environments.
Officials have stated that the ship’s hull needs to be cleaned before it can enter Australia.
Previous reports suggested that the growth could be caused by fungus. However this was not confirmed in Australia’s fisheries department.
According to the department, management of biofoul is a common practice for all international ships arriving in Australia. The ship must be cleaned to prevent “harmful marine organisms” being transported into Australian waters.
It added that “professional divers were engaged directly to clean the hull while at an anchor outside of Australian waters by the vessel line/agent.”
According to reports, the ship was denied permission for docking at Christchurch, Dunedin, and Hobart. Twitter user One passenger said that 800 people remained aboard the ship, many of them angry at the company’s “negligence”.
The 930-person, 14-deck ship was constructed in 2018. It is reported that the ship dropped anchor 17 miles (27 km) from the coast to allow for cleaning.
Viking stated that the vessel was missing several stops due to the presence of “limited marine growth”.
However, it stated that it expects to sail towards Melbourne in the upcoming hours. It would then dock on 2 February. It said that Viking was working directly with its guests to provide compensation for any negative effects on their voyage.
Friday’s letter from the captain of the ship included an apology and a statement that the “current cruise is not up to your expectations”. A member of Viking’s customer service team will make an “adjusted compensation offer” to guests over the next few days.