Cruise ship Viking Orion (IMO 9796250) has been
refused a second port call due to biofouling.
The vessel left Sydney, Australia on December 22nd for a two-week Australia-New Zealand Christmas-New Year’s cruise. It apparently
made two port calls on New Zealand’s North Island at Tauranga and Napier before
a bio-problem on the hull was identified while the vessel was at Wellington,
New Zealand on December 26th. Since then it has been a cruise ship looking
for somewhere to dock. It was denied cruise ship stops in Christchurch on the
South Island and Dunedin. The Viking Orion was then scheduled to proceed to
Hobart, Tasmania, but Australian officials decided to block its entry into
local water. The vessel then headed for Adelaide, but before arriving there at
the end of last week the captain advised the passengers that the ship would be waiting
offshore in order to solve the problem.
The Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA),
confirmed the problem, stating that “the vessel is required to undergo hull cleaning
to remove the biofoul and prevent potentially harmful marine organisms being
transported by the vessel”.
While marine growth would be permitted in most seaports
around the world, New Zealand and Australia have tough national biofouling
regulations. New Zealand’s have been in place for many years, with the country
stating that 90% of marine pests arrived in the country on the submerged
surfaces of international vessels. However, Australia’s rules only took effect
in June 2022. The rules require operators to “demonstrate implementation
of proactive management practices” for fouling, and the authorities are
empowered to use Australia’s biosecurity rules to inspect hulls and manage
“unacceptable biosecurity risk.”
The Viking Orion remained about 17nm off the coast of
Adelaide, where on December 31st and January 1st professional
divers were brought in to clean the hull.
A spokesperson for Viking said that “while the ship
needed to miss several stops on this itinerary in order for the required
cleaning to be conducted, she is expected to sail for Melbourne as planned on
January 1st, and we are expecting the scheduled itinerary to resume
completely by January 2nd.”
The vessel eventually returned to Sydney as scheduled end
its cruise on January 4th, having missed four of its eight scheduled
ports of call
The cruise was only the second Viking sea holiday to
depart Australia after an absence of approaching three years. Australia did not
permit cruise ships to return until the end of April 2022; the first cruise
ship did not arrive in Auckland, New Zealand until August 2022.
The Viking Orion had sailed in Alaska during the summer
of 2022 and completed voyages through Asia before returning to Sydney on
December 8th. It had made several port calls in both Australia and
New Zealand since its return without a problem before this cruise.
Just before Christmas, New Zealand officials had also
blocked Princess Cruises’ Coral Princess from scenic cruising off Milford Sound
and a port call at Port Chalmers after snails were found on the hull.
2018-built, Norway-flagged, 47,861 gt Viking Orion is
owned by Sea 33 Leasoing Co Ltd care of manager Viking Rivier Rruises Inc of
Woodland Hill, California, USA. ISM manager is Wilhelmsen Ship Management AS.
It is entered with Steamship Mutual (European Syndicate) on behalf of Sea 33
Leasing Co Ltd. As of January 4th the vessel was moored at Sydney.
