Полярная звезда: История круизной компании и гибель судна

Specialty adventure cruise company (2001 2011

Polar Star Expeditions was a specialty adventure cruise company owned by Karlsen Shipping Company Ltd. out of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. In 2001, Polar Star began operating a single expedition cruise ship, MV Polar Star, a 284 feet (87 m) converted Swedish icebreaker with 105 berths. The company conducted cruises mainly in the northern and southern polar and sub polar regions. In 2010, its only vessel lost one of its engines and had to operate part of that season on the remaining functional engine. The vessel is Class Ice 1A, long with a beam, a draft; and ; with a cruising speed of The new owner and parent company of Polar Star Expeditions was Karlsen Shipping Co. Ltd., a family business founded in Norway in the 1800s that expanded to Canada in 1940 and became a Canadian based company. Polar Star was founded to conduct cruises in the northern and southern polar and sub polar regions. It also chartered with Cheesemans' Ecology Safaris. The vessel was registered in Sweden by Karlsen Sg Norway A/S.

On January 31, 2011, Polar Star hit an uncharted rock when anchoring just north of Detaille Island in the Antarctic, breaching her outer hull. There, an underwater survey discovered additional damage, and the company decided to transfer passengers to other ships rather than ferry them back to Argentina through the often rough Drake Passage below Cape Horn. Three ships that were in the vicinity evacuated her 80 passengers and part of her crew on February 3, 2011, This ceased company operations effective May 17, 2011, less than four months after the grounding of Polar Star. Her 27 member crew was left stranded without pay in the Canary Islands in Spain.

The Polar Star was left in drydock at the Astican Shipyard in Las Palmas with unpaid repair bills reaching $1.6 million. However, any sale by the receiver was complicated by the fact that there was a substantial Spanish lien on the ship, and it would also require costly sea trials before it could be re certified to sail. This was disputed by the receiver who noted the vessel was still in dry dock. An employee of the international hospital ships charity Mercy Ships was at Astican Yards in the Canary Islands in July 2012. He photographed the MV Polar Star, still up on blocks in drydock, but there were obvious signs of wear and corrosion. There was a substitution of receivers from PricewaterhouseCoopers to Grant Thornton Limited. While the ship had been in dry dock, according to Grant Thornton, the ship broker who originally valued the ship at $8 $10 million in May 2011 valued it at less than half that amount. In October 2012, Grant Thornton applied for a court order approving the sale of the M/V Polar Star to 3264741 Nova Scotia Limited. The purchase price was $200,000. According to Grant Thornton, Astican Shipyard was charging some 34,500 Euros (about US$45,000) a month for dry dock storage. At some point in the process, it appears 3264741 Nova Scotia Limited assigned its rights to another company called NumberCo. , Polar Star was still moored at the shipyard, with her name shortened to Polar S. In December 2022, it was recorded that the ship had been scrapped.