Hundreds of tourists, mostly Americans, have had their vacations ruined because of “sea fouling” on their boat. A mixture of bacteria, algae and molluscs in the hull led to the refusal of permission to dock in Australia.
An epic new year. Passengers on the luxury cruise ship Viking Orion had signed up for a vacation full of scenic excursions to the ocean continent. But they were stuck at sea for a week. And the stops they were supposed to make in Christchurch and Dunedin (in New Zealand) and Hobart, the capital of Tasmania (in Australia), have been cancelled. The reason ? Permission to dock was denied. The hull of the ship actually wore “sea growth”. Biological stains caused by an accumulation of bacteria, larvae, spores, crustaceans and molluscs and other macro and microorganisms. Their presence carries the risk of importing exotic species. A threat to ecosystems. The ship eventually docked in Melbourne on Monday, January 2, and “should resume the original route,” according to the cruise line.
According to the Australian government, divers had to remove the “biofoul”. The ship was cleaned while at anchor in international waters. The ship had left Auckland, New Zealand, on December 23, but made no further stops after leaving Wellington, the New Zealand capital, on December 26, according to vesselfinder.com.
“Journey to Hell”
The Viking company was reassuring in their statement, confirming that they would have to remove “a limited amount of common marine growth” from the hull. She claims she is “working directly with passengers to seek compensation for the impact on their journey.”
But the hosts do not seem satisfied with these explanations. Some of the passengers expressed their anger and disappointment on social media. “@VikingCruises’ journey from Hell continues. It looks like we’re going to be stuck on the ship for a full nine days,” tweeted. This netizen claims it was the “most unreal and upsetting” experience and now all she wants to do is “get off that boat and go home.” Kenn Heydrick, another passenger, denounced the company’s “negligence” which let him down after “two years of waiting”.
Strict biosecurity guidelines
Australia and New Zealand have had very strict biosecurity systems in place for many years. Australia organizes border interventions to prevent entry of potentially invasive organisms. Airports and seaports are strictly monitored. Joe, a carrier pigeon, was nearly culled by Australian authorities in 2021 because “regardless of origin, any resident bird that has failed to comply with import regulations will not be allowed to stay. The only possible solution to address the biosecurity risk is human destruction of the bird,” said the spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture. In 2017, a 200-year-old herbarium from France from the National Museum of Natural History was not as lucky as Joe and was completely destroyed by customs officials.