Swan Hellenic’s SH Vega was delayed ahead of its first sailing due to technical and administration issues
Swan Hellenic’s second cruise ship was due to leave Helsinki after its naming ceremony at 3 pm on 11 July. But the ship did not depart for Copenhagen until late afternoon the next day.
Explaining the reasons for the delay to assembled press on board, Swan Hellenic chief executive Andrea Zito said the reasons were “very simple and complicated at the same time”.
He expanded, “There was a technical problem which delayed the issuing of the certificate and at same time we were registering the vessel in Panama; the registration was delayed for administrative reasons.
“We had to acquire the vessel and to go through all the sanction processes as it was leased by a sanctioned party… we started the process of registration which normally takes two weeks but compressed this into four days.”
He said they were almost ready at midnight – but one electronic document was missing. Mr Zito added, “And believe it or not, the technology went down and they were not able to press a button and issue a certificate. Eventually we were ready at 4 am this morning [12 July].”
But it was decided to wait until later in the day to sail, so as not to disrupt the travel plans of those on board.
Summing up about the delays, Mr Zito said, “These are not problems. For me – I have been in this industry for a long time – a problem is when the ship is on a rock or a blackout in middle of nowhere. I do not want to downgrade it, this is a small hiccup. We are here in a safe place, we have nice company, nice atmosphere – thank you so much for coming.”
SH Vega was registered in Malta originally, but Mr Zito commented they “did not get very good co-operation” from Malta, so took a different approach and thought about Bahamas but chose Panama because it was ready “to do everything. They said they had done due diligence and were ready to go”.
Swan Hellenic is also planning to buy its first cruise ship, SH Minerva. “We do not own Minerva, it is owned by an Irish entity that is sanctioned. We have exercised our right to purchase, but to buy a sanctioned item you have to have the green light from the authorities, and we have waited two months for the Bank of Ireland to give the right to buy.”
He said they should complete the transaction in August or September.
Swan Hellenic is setting up new investors, a mix of leasing companies and private equities. Mr Zito said it was still negotiating, and shortlisting some bidders, so it was still confidential information.
