Cruise passengers stranded off Australian coast because of 'marine growth'
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Divers had to remove the “biofoul” from the 930-berth Viking Orion while it was anchored in international waters.
PHOTO: VIKINGCRUISES.COM.AU
Sydney - Passengers on a luxury New Year’s cruise around New Zealand and Australia have reportedly been stranded on board for a week because of a “marine growth” on the ship’s hull.
Divers had to remove the “biofoul” – an accumulation of micro-organisms, plants, algae or small animals – from the 930-berth Viking Orion while it was anchored in international waters, the Australian government said.
The cleaning was required to protect Australia’s waters from “potentially harmful marine organisms”, the fisheries department said in a statement sent to AFP.
The nine-deck Viking Orion, built in 2018, has a spa, theatre, sports deck and pool. It left Auckland on Dec 23, according to tracking website vesselfinder.com. But it had made no port calls since leaving the New Zealand capital Wellington on Dec 26, the tracker said, apparently missing scheduled stops in Christchurch, Dunedin and the Tasmanian state capital of Hobart.
After being cleaned in international waters off South Australia’s state capital Adelaide, the ship was finally docking in Melbourne on Monday evening, the tracking website showed.
Viking confirmed it had to remove “a limited amount of standard marine growth” from the hull.
“While the ship needed to miss several stops on this itinerary in order for the required cleaning to be conducted, she is expected to resume the current itinerary,” said Viking in a statement sent to AFP.
“Viking is working directly with guests on compensation for the impact to their voyage,” added the company, declining to give further details. AFP
