Five former Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV) operated cruise ships are to be auctioned.
Four of the ships are lying at Tilbury, UK while the fifth is berthed at Avonmouth, near Bristol.
They will be auctioned as five separate lots next month by London broking house CW Kellock & Co, part of the Eggar Forrester Group.
Bids must be received for the 1993-built ‘Vasco da Gama’ on 8th October, followed by the 1989-built ‘Columbus’ on 12th October, the 1985-built ‘Magellan’ on 19th October, the 1987 built ‘Astor’ on 15th October and finally, the 1965-built ‘Marco Polo’ on 22nd October.
All of the vessels can be inspected by arrangement, CW Kellock said.
In accordance with various court orders following CMV’s insolvency, each vessel is to be sold by separate sealed tender, on an ‘as is where is’ basis at the time of sale, on the Admiralty Marshal’s Conditions of Sale, with clean title and free of encumbrances, the broker said in a circular.
Whilst in layup, last June, several of the company’s cruise ships were detained by the UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), citing crew welfare issues and unpaid wages.
A month later, the company was reported to be trying to secure additional finance but when this failed, CMV was placed in administration.
A long list of creditors petitioned the UK High Court, which ordered the cruise ships to be sold to raise funds.
The fate of the oldest vessel operated by CMV- ‘Astoria’ – under a charter was unclear.
She built in 1948 but rebuilt several times down the years. Her claim to fame was, in her original guise as the ‘Stockholm’, she sank the Italian luxury liner ‘Andrea Doria’ in 1956 following a collision in thick fog off Nantucket.
‘Astoria’ is currently owned by a Portuguese bank and was believed to still be laid up at Tilbury.
Meanwhile, at the end of August the primary assets of the travel agency part of the business – South Quay Travel (SQT) – were sold to a new company founded by former CMV head, Christian Verhounig.
