A luxury cruise ship chartered to house asylum seekers has been put up for sale by its owner due to problems with regulators and the reduction of the refugee crisis in Sweden.
US Shipmanagers, a Florida company, claims that a sale may be necessary to cover losses they would incur if the Swedish migration agency (Migrationsverket) fails to pay a 54 million kronor ($6.44 million) bill the company has sent to the agency for the costs of running the ship. The company also intends to sue the municipality for 250 million stating that the municipality and the Immigration Service worked together to stop the Ocean Gala from operating.
Migrationsverket claims that their agreement to house asylum seekers on the vessel has been null and void since July.
Today the 40,000 tonne Ocean Gala is up for sale for a price of around $20 million.
“We’ve put the Ocean Gala up for sale because it appears that Migrationsverket will try to get out of our agreement. As contractors we have an obligation to try to limit the damage,” Floating Accommodations spokesperson Kjell Tandberg told local newspaper Sundvalls Tidning.
“If someone buys or charters it our demand to Migrationsverket will reduce, and if not, we will continue to demand payment for the whole year as if we were in operation,” he added.
In February 2016, it was announced that the Swedish Migration Agency signed a contract with US Shipmanagers to use the Ocean Gala as an asylum hotel for 1790 asylum seekers. Initially, permission was sought for a 4 year stint 2016-2020 in the Harbour of Härnösand but disputes between the ship’s owners and various Swedish entities ensued.
But, according to Swedish website TheLocal, Härnösand municipality vetoed hosting the ship. The Swedish migration board accepted that decision, before scrapping the deal with the firm entirely in July, claiming that requirements had not been met.
“Our deal depended on the procurement of all the necessary permits. This did not happen so the deal is null and void,” said a Swedish official in a statement at the time.
MANILA, April 27 (Reuters) – The Philippines on Saturday denied a Chinese claim that the two countries had reached an agreement over an escalating maritime dispute in the South China Sea, calling...
CAIRO, March 2 (Reuters) – The Houthi Transport Ministry in Yemen said on Saturday there had been a “glitch” in undersea communication cables in the Red Sea as a result of actions...
by Captain John Konrad (gCaptain) In the current American labor landscape, the stark contrast between the assertive strides of transportation unions and the maritime sector’s unique labor challenges is striking....
December 11, 2023
Total Views: 20484
Why Join the gCaptain Club?
Access exclusive insights, engage in vibrant discussions, and gain perspectives from our CEO.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.