HAVILA POLARIS

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Delivery once more postponed

Havila Voyages had once again had to postpone the commissioning of the 'Havila Polaris'. Two trips to Norway planned for April 2023 have now been canceled due to financial and bureaucratic hurdles. The company said it was prevented from taking delivery of the completed ship pending legal clarifications and the approval of the Central Bank of Ireland. Havila has therefore postponed the premiere voyage on the mail boat route from April 7 to 29. Havila intended to contact customers who were booked for the departures on April 7 or 18 shortly and offer them the option of switching to a later travel date or another ship or having the travel price reimbursed.

Havila fined for delays

The company Havila announced that it is canceling a further three departures in March from Bergen planned for its third ship, the 'Havila Polaris', while it waits for its license application to be approved by the Irish central bank. Only then will it be able to complete the financial transactions to obtain a clear title for the third cruise ship without the chance of future legal actions. The latest delay comes as the Norwegian government informed Havila that it intended to fine the company for not operating the planned voyages for the 'Havila Polaris' in January. Saying that it is caught in a situation where it can not take delivery of the ship until the formalities are arranged, Havila said it would assess the legality of the liquidated damages planned by the Ministry of Transport. Havila continues to wait for the necessary releases from the Irish central bank to complete the transaction to end the nearly year-long struggle revolving around the issues related to the agreements with GTLK. The cruise line had to take its first vessel out of service for a period of time due to issues created with the insurance on the vessel due to the sanctions, while the second ship was delivered only after the shipyard agreed to a bridge loan. Delivery of the third cruise ship has been postponed since December with Havila again reporting delays. Havila had an agreement with a well-known Russian company GTLK to build the four cruise ships and charter them long-term to the company. The start-up was further complicated by the sanctions placed against Russian financial institutions.