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Ex-CMV chief sets sail with takeover of stricken cruise assets

The former boss of Cruise & Maritime Voyages is buying some of its assets weeks after its collapse, Sky News learns.

City editor @MarkKleinmanSky

Thursday 27 August 2020 21:25, UK

The former boss of one of Britain's best-known cruise operators has snapped up its customer database and booking systems in a bid to relaunch it weeks after the company collapsed with the loss of thousands of jobs.

Sky News has learnt that a number of assets belonging to Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV), which appointed administrators last month, have been sold to a new vehicle established by Christian Verhounig, its former chief executive.

The deal is expected to be announced on Friday.

Sources said that Duff & Phelps, the administrator, had sought to sell the business and wider assets of CMV and a number of sister companies but that this had proved impossible in an industry decimated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Major cruise operators have been forced to defer the resumption of operations amid ongoing travel restrictions and weakened consumer confidence.

Carnival Corporation, which is one of the industry's largest players, has raised billions of dollars of additional liquidity to help it survive the pandemic.

Virgin Voyages, which is backed by Sir Richard Branson, has also been forced to delay the launch of its services.

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CMV's administration did not include its fleet of ships, which included the Marco Polo and Columbus.

Paul Williams, joint administrator at Duff & Phelps, said: "We have worked hard since being appointed to secure a sale of the business and assets of the companies.

"Regrettably, given the devastating impact of the global pandemic on the entire travel industry, with a focus on the leisure cruise sector, this has not been possible in this instance.

"However, I strongly believe that this asset sale not only represents the best value for the companies' creditors that was achievable in challenging market conditions, but also provides an opportunity for CVI, through its owner Christian Verhounig, to continue to pursue funding opportunities to potentially relaunch CMV's unique cruise operations to its dedicated customers at some point in the future."

CMV found itself at the centre of a repatriation row involving hundreds of crew prior to its collapse, when it sought capital from potential investors to stay afloat.

In total, the company employed about 4000 people - most of them on board its ships.

Five of its fleet had been detained by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) last month following complaints about late pay and expired contracts.

Some crew members from India and other countries in Asia had been on-board for more than the legal limit of 11 months, but were unable to fly home because of international travel restrictions arising from the COVID-19 crisis.

In February, Carnival's Diamond Princess ship became the epicentre of fears about the cruise industry's ability to safely navigate the crisis, with 13 of its passengers dying after contracting COVID-19.

Mr Verhounig said: "The global pandemic had a devastating impact on CMV's once flourishing, expanding and profitable business.

"Having developed a much-loved brand over the past decade and hugely popular value-based niche no-fly cruise product, we have been simply overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and pleased to re-launch the business."

"This endorsement across the industry and customer base alike has been a rich source of encouragement and together with my previous management team, we are working hard to plug the huge market gap vacated by CMV's untimely insolvency."

"The acquisition of the UK commercial assets provides a positive first step and we believe demonstrates our firm commitment and optimism to return much stronger and to work alongside our loyal suppliers and creditors to also help mitigate the pandemic impact," he said.

CMV customers whose bookings were cancelled as a result of the company's administration would have to continue to seek compensation through the existing claims process, a source said.

The only cruise blog for the Middle East and South Africa

CMV to be reborn as Ambassador Cruise Line in 2022 with former Satoshi crypto ship

Ambassador Cruise Line is set to be the UK’s first new cruise line in over a decade when it launches in 2022, operating the former Pacific Dawn, which was most recently intended to become the crypto cruise ship Satoshi.

Ambassador Cruise Line is remarkably similar to Cruise & Maritime Voyages , the popular boutique British cruise line that was f orced into bankruptcy last year by the COVID-19 pandemic .

The new cruise line will be based at Tilbury, London, just as CMV was

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It should be noted, however, that Ambassador Cruise Line will not have any official affiliation with CMV.

Its leadership have not made any explicit link between the new cruise line and CMV, unlike Cordelia Cruises in India, which has positioned itself as a continuation of Jalesh Cruises , another line forced into bankruptcy by the pandemic.

Most of the executive board of Ambassador Cruise Line are former Cruise & Maritime Voyages executives, the cruise line will operate from Tilbury, London, just as CMV did, it will target the over 50 cruise market in the UK, just as CMV did, and will focus on providing cruises from the UK itself, rather than fly-cruise packages (again, just like CMV did).

Ambassador Cruise Line’s management team includes CEO Christian Verhounig, Chief Commercial Officer Christopher Coates, Chief Information Officer Gary Hides and Chief Financial Officer Simon Weeks.

All four executives previously worked together at CMV , and the cruise line’s first ship, Ambiance, is the former Pacific Dawn of P&O Australia, which was meant to be sold to CMV last year before the pandemic upended those plans.

Ambassador Cruise Line will operate one ship initially, Ambiance, the former Pacific Dawn

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When CMV was no longer able to purchase the vessel, it was acquired by Ocean Builder and marketed as the world’s first crypto cruise ship, where passengers would be able to use crypto-currencies, such as Bitcoin, to pay for voyages and services.

Those plans fell through when Ocean Builder was unable to secure insurance for the vessel and its crew, which prevented the ship being able to obtain flag registry.

Ambassador Cruise Line plans to begin operating cruises from Tilbury, London by April next year, initially offering short cruises to European ports such as Hamburg, before operating longer voyages.

The cruise line plans to sail 33 cruises, calling at 88 ports across the Baltics, Greenland, the Arctic and Iceland, during its first full year of operations.

While other British cruise lines typically reposition their fleet to the Caribbean, Middle East or Mediterranean in the winter, Ambassador plans to offer “expedition-style voyages” to the Canaries, Cuba, the Caribbean, Cape Verde and Scandinavia.

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Categories: News

Tagged as: Ambassador Cruise Line , Ambiance , CMV , Cruise & Maritime Voyages , UK

Published by Shaun Ebelthite

Founder and editor of Cruise Arabia & Africa. I try to create the best news and information specifically for cruise passengers taking cruises to and from Dubai (where I live) and South Africa (where I was born). You can contact me at shaun(at)cruisearabiaonline.com. View all posts by Shaun Ebelthite

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