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Polar Star still for sale
The "Polar Star" remains idle in the Canary Islands. The vessel was seized after its Halifax owner, Karlsen Shipping Co. Ltd., was forced into receivership in May when TD Bank called in a $4.6-million loan. Karlsen, which owes creditors about $8 million, was unable to pay a $1.4-million repair bill to a Las Palmas shipyard after the converted icebreaker grounded in the Antarctic in January 2011. A sale is complicated due to the fact that there is a hefty Spanish lien on the ship, which would also require costly sea trials before it could be recertified to sail. The receiver will be in Nova Scotia Supreme Court on Oct 4, 2011, to ask for approval of the sale of Karlsen’s head office in Bayers Lake Business Park. The company moved its headquarters to Bayers Lake after selling its Halifax waterfront site between the naval dockyard and Casino Nova Scotia to the Defence Department in 2005 for $3.75 million.
Arctic cruises cancelled
Spitsbergen Travel cancelled all 11 cruises of the "Polar Star" scheduled for this summer due to the insolvence of the owner Karlsen Shipping. 512 of on the whole 857 booked passengers come from Germany, 111 from England, 87 from Norway, 65 from France and 61 from the USA. They may change to other Hurtigruten cruises. The crew of the "Polar Star" meanwhile received tickets for their flights home.
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The "Polar Star" on July 1, 2010, got clearance by the Norwegian shipping authorities to sail to Longyearbyen under escort of the Hurtigruten-vessel "Fram" (IMO: 9370018). All passengers were safely disembarked and boarded the "Fram" on July 1. A plane was to carry a repair crew to Longyearbyen in the night of July 2, and it was hoped to get the damage repaired until July 3 at 6 p.m., but this was, at this stage, not for sure.
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