The Spanish shipyard whose orderbook includes the largest full-rigged three-mast passenger ship ever built, Sea Cloud Hussar, has filed for bankruptcy, a report on Expeditioncruising.com says.

Following repeated delays in delivery, the shipyard is still unable to offer a completion date for the vessel. To safeguard its interests, the shipping company has therefore demanded reimbursement of the down payments secured via bank guarantees. Sea Cloud Cruises is now in the process of examining how the construction of this vessel could possibly be finished.

For the most part, the vessel is in fact already completed and basically ready to launch. The interior fitting of the vessel had already come to a halt earlier this year when one large supplier filed for bankruptcy.

Hermann Ebel, owner of Sea Cloud Cruises, expressed his continued interest in the completion of the cruise liner: "Together with all the parties involved, we are endeavouring to ensure the vessel is completed. However, we first have to wait for the Spanish court to appoint a receiver, but we do not expect any tangible results before the summer break."