Ocean Atlantic under detention at Longyearbyen in July.
WILLIAM MAYES
Danish expedition tour operator Albatros Travel has for more than 30 years offered expedition cruises on several old ships. Currently, the one older ship in the programme is Ocean Atlantic (1985/12,798gt), but Albatros will not renew the charter for 2022-23, relying on its seasonal charter of Sunstone Ship’s purposebuilt expedition ship Ocean Victory. A second ship in this series of X-Bow vessels, Ocean Albatros, will join the fleet in May 2023.
In the meantime, Ocean Atlantic was detained in Longyearbyen, Svalbard under the Paris MoU on 18 July with 30 deficiencies, including hull damage. She was eventually permitted to sail to a repair yard in Tromsø, 23 days later.
With the number of new purpose- built expedition ships arriving on the market in the next few years, there will be a clearout of older tonnage, but some may still be able to offer price advantages in this very expensive sector of the cruise market.