Court opens MS Deutschland and Peter Deilmann bankruptcy proceedings

A court in Eutin in Germany has started bankruptcy proceedings of MS „Deutschland“ Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, which owns the 22,496 gross ton cruise liner Deutschland and Peter Deilmann Reederei, the company that has operated the vessel, Deilmann said in a statement.

Meanwhile a world cruise of Deutschland that was due to operate from 18 December 2014 to 1 May 2015 had been cancelled in the absence of a buyer for the vessel that would have provided working capital for the cruise to take place, the company said in a separate statement on 27 November.

Liabilities of the ship owning company amount to about €60 million and those of the operator to about €2 million. The companies have about 1,500 creditors and the first meeting of them will take place on 20 February at the Eutin court house, Deilmann said.

Update 3: Ten dead on Norman Atlantic, actual figure could be higher - report

UPDATE 3:

Ten people have been confirmed dead as a result of the fire that swept the Italian ropax ferry Norman Atlantic in the Adriatic, but the actual figure could be higher as the ship’s manifest does not seem to have been accurate, media reports say.

“A 33-hour-long operation to save almost 500 passengers and crew from the stricken Norman Atlantic ferry wrapped up on Monday night amid fears that the final death toll could prove much higher than the ten fatalities confirmed by the Italian and Greek coastguards,” the Guardian newspaper in London reported on its website.

“Italy’s defence minister, Roberta Pinotti, said 427 people had been rescued from the ship, which caught fire early on Sunday. The manifest contained 478 names, apparently leaving 43 unaccounted for.”

“Maurizio Lupi, the Italian transport minister, said several of the people who were saved did not figure on the list, suggesting even more could have died. Prosecutors who opened two inquiries into the disaster in the ports of Brindisi and Bari were reportedly putting the number of missing at 38,” the Guardian said.

UPDATE 2: 

The death toll in the fire on Norman Atlantic has risen to seven. All persons have now been rescueed from the ship, the BBC reports.

UPDATE 1:

The number of deaths on the Norman Atlantic ferry that caught fire in the Adriatic early on Sunday morning has risen to five from one, media reports say.

“Five people were confirmed to have died in car ferry that caught fire off the coast of Greece and rescue teams were working to save another 22 still stranded on board more than 24 hours after the blaze started,” the Reuters news agency reports.

 

The ship flies the Italian flag and it is on charter to ANEK Lines, a Greek ferry company. 

 

-----

One person has died on Norman Atlantic, the ropax ferry that caught fire last night on a voyage from Italy to Greece, media reports say.

Meanwhile, the ship had six defects at a port state control inspection that took place on 19 December. These included a malfunctioning fire door, missing emergency lighting batteries, a water tight door that was not as required and two defects with regards of life saving information, the Paris MOU says on its website (parismou.org).

The Paris MOU is the European body that carries out port state control to inspect vessels’ safety equipment and other safety related matters. 

Normamn Arlantic flies the Italian flag and is managed by Visemar di navigazione, accroding to imnformation on the Paris MOU website. The ship has been chartered to ANEK Lines, a major listed Greek ferry company.

Resue effort under way as Norman Atlantic ferry catches fire in Adriatic

A rescue effort is on the way after an Italian flag ropax ferry had caught fire in the Adriatic in the night during a voyage from Greece to Italy, media reports say.

“The Norman Atlantic car ferry was just over 40 miles northwest of Corfu when it sent out a distress signal to the Greek coast guard. The fire broke out in the lower deck garage of the vessel, Italian officials have said, at around 4.30am local time (2.30am GMT),” the Independent newspaper in London reported on its website..

“It was unclear whether there had been casualties or if any passengers were in the water, though officials said wintry water temperatures would make survival in the sea difficult unless rescue came quickly,” the report said.

There are almost 500 people on board the ship, according to Reuters.

Norman Atlantic is of 26,904 gross tons and it was built by the Visentini shipyard in Italy in 2009. The ship is a standard design unit of a long series of ropax ferries built by the shipyard. Like many of the units of the series, it flies the Italian flag.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. details impact of Insignia fire

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. on Tuesday quantified the financial impact of the incident on board Oceania Cruises' Insignia.

On December 11, 2014, Insignia experienced a fire in the engine room while docked in St. Lucia during a ten-day voyage that departed San Juan, Puerto Rico on December 7, resulting in the cancellation of the remainder of the sailing. The vessel has been taken out of service and the Company anticipates repair efforts to take approximately nine weeks. The timing of the repairs results in the cancellation of a 24-day voyage which had been scheduled to depart Miami on December 17, 2014 along with the first three legs of Insignia's Around the World in 180 Days cruise, which was scheduled to depart Miami on January 10, 2015. This modified voyage will now commence on March 22, 2015 and depart from Singapore.

The financial impact on the fourth quarter of 2014 and the first quarter of 2015 is estimated to be a reduction in earnings of approximately $0.05 and $0.05 per share, net of insurance proceeds, respectively. The Company reiterates its prior full year 2014 Adjusted EPS guidance of $2.28 to $2.32. The guidance provided excluded the results of the acquisition of Prestige Cruises International, Inc., parent company of Oceania Cruises, which closed in the fourth quarter of 2014 and also excludes the financial impacts from this incident.

"The timing of repairs has unfortunately required the cancellation of Insignia's holiday voyage along with the modification of the world cruise," said Kevin Sheehan, president and chief executive officer of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. "We understand how disappointing this news must be to our valued guests and we extend our sincere appreciation for their cooperation and understanding." 

RCCL to retrofit AEP scrubbers on 19 ships

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCCL), the world's second largest cruise shipping company, said it will retrofit 19 of its 42 ships with advanced emissions purification (AEP) systems, underscoring its commitment to meet or exceed important environmental standards. These systems, also known as scrubbers, will remove more than 97% of the sulfur dioxide emissions generated by the ships' diesel engines. 

The move will position RCCL ahead of all forthcoming International Maritime Organization Emission Control Area emissions standards, and will ensure compliance with existing European Union standards. Additionally, the decision to install AEP systems instead of switching to a fuel with a lower sulfur content will ensure that RCCL's ships can be compliant everywhere they sail, as availability of lower-sulfur fuels is limited, the company said in a statement.

Beginning in January 2015, installation will take place on 13 Royal Caribbean International ships and six Celebrity Cruises ships, during scheduled dry-dockings and while ships are in service. While preliminary work has begun on several of the ships receiving AEP systems, most will take place between 2015 and 2017. Each installation will take approximately eight months.

RCCL has been involved in development, testing and planning for the use of AEP technology since 2010. Two newly built RCCL ships that entered into service this year, Royal Caribbean International's Quantum of the Seas and TUI Cruises' Mein Schiff 3, were among the first cruise ships to be built with AEP systems installed during initial construction. Royal Caribbean International's Liberty of the Seas has been operating one of its six engines with a retrofitted AEP system for two years. AEP systems "scrub" exhaust gases by injecting high volumes of water spray into the exhaust stream, removing more than 97% of sulfur dioxide emissions.

"AEP technology for maritime vessels is very new, and we expect that by utilizing multiple technological solutions to accommodate the differences among our ships, additional development will ultimately help industrialize AEP technology even more, which will benefit not only RCCL but also the larger maritime industry," said Adam Goldstein, President and COO of RCCL. 

The company faced significant challenges in order to accommodate the AEP systems on its existing ships – some pieces of which can be as large as a school bus, an entire system having an operational weight of several hundred tons of equipment and liquids. "A retrofit project of this size and complexity – and the scale and intricacy of the research, planning, and design required – is unprecedented for our company, and has required a very systematic process and involved the world's leading expertise in this field," said Harri Kulovaara, Executive Vice President, Maritime, RCCL.