MS Hamburg explained
MS Hamburg is a 15,000-ton, 420 passenger, luxury
cruise ship owned by the
Conti Group and is now operated by
Plantours Kreuzfahrten. She was built in 1997, in
Wismar,
Germany. Her relative small size allows her to transit the
Great Lakes in North America, where she cruised seasonally between 1997 and 2011 and again in 2022, as well as other cruises worldwide as travelling the
Mediterranean for cultural cruises with
Martin Randall Travel, the
north Atlantic and at
Asia. Her
crew consists of 170 members,
[1] and her top speed is 16
knots.
[2] She was previously known as
Columbus for
Hapag-Lloyd, she was since replaced by
Columbus 2.
[3] In 2024, a new livery and logo were announced.[4]
Incidents
In April 2015, the vessel suffered damage due to an oil leak. The following trips were canceled in Tanger.[5]
On 5 May 2015, a fishing net became tangled in the ship's propeller off the South East coast of England. The ship was diverted to Southampton to be inspected.
On 11 May 2015, the ship grounded on charted rocks near the New Rocks buoy in the Sound of Mull, Scotland. The official accident report states that Hamburg's bridge team failed to apply Bridge Team Management tools effectively.[6]
The ship needed to be repaired at a shipyard in Belfast and at Bremerhaven and would be completed by 10 August 2015. To continue operations, Plantours chartered .[7] [8]
On 26 November 2021, the MS Hamburg arrived in the Port of Buenos Aires coming from Cape Verde. The port was operating under a new, more restrictive, protocol for ships arriving from Africa, due to the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant. However, according to Argentine newspaper Clarín, the Argentine authorities thought Cape Verde was in Asia and not in Africa, and let the ship enter the port without applying the correct protocol. According to the same report, the authorities took 12 hours to realize their mistake. The Argentine authorities, however, denied the mistake, stating that all the passengers in the ship were tested for Covid and that the results returned negative.[9]
Notes and References
- Web site: MS Columbus Review . Euro Lloyd . 25 February 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090209152752/http://eurolloyd.com/columbusreview.htm . 9 February 2009 .
- Web site: MS Columbus Ship details . Hapag-Lloyd . 25 February 2009 . 19 February 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090219061953/http://eurolloyd.com/Hapag%2DLloyd/COLUMBUS.pdf . live .
- Web site: Make It A Double, EUROPA!. Maritime Matters. 7 April 2011. 10 April 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110410160053/http://maritimematters.com/2011/04/make-it-a-double-europa/. live.
- https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2024/03/plantours-introduces-new-livery-and-logo/
- Web site: MS Hamburg had Motor problems: Current Trip cancelled . 27 April 2015 . 28 May 2015 . 28 May 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150528221033/http://www.schiffe-und-kreuzfahrten.de/reederei/plantours/ms-hamburg/ms-hamburg-hat-motorschaden-aktuelle-reise-abgebrochen/68958/ . live .
- Web site: Grounding of passenger cruise ship Hamburg. GOV.UK. 17 June 2016. 16 June 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160616023149/https://www.gov.uk/maib-reports/grounding-of-passenger-cruise-ship-hamburg. live.
- Web site: MS Deutschland in Service for PLANTOURS Kreuzfahrten . May 2015 . 31 May 2015 . 29 April 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210429120232/https://www.plantours-partner.de/media/pdf/PM_PLANTOURS%20KREUZFAHRTEN_%20MS%20Deutschland_final-219-10.pdf . dead .
- Web site: MS Deutschland goes successful at extension . Plantours Kreuzfahrten . 9 July 2015 . 10 July 2015 . 10 July 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150710070625/http://www.plantours-partner.de/media/pdf/PM_PLANTOURS_MS%20Deutschland%202015_Publikum-219-1.pdf . live .
- Web site: Alerta por Ómicron: hubo un caso de Covid en un barco que llegó de África e investigan de qué variante se trata . . 29 November 2021 . 30 November 2021 . Spanish . 29 November 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211129233842/https://www.clarin.com/viajes/sanidad-confundieron-africa-asia-habilitaron-ingreso-crucero-procedente-cabo-verde-control_0_0tdFvvkjE.html . live .