Yesterday KfW IPEX-Bank arrested the World Dream, Genting Hong Kong’s last operational cruise ship, hours after it finished its last trip.
Dream Cruises was established by Genting to be a premium cruise line that sailed in the Asian market. The World Dream, which was launched in 2017, was mainly sailing in Singapore.
On Monday, Dream Cruises announced the World Dream would stop sailing after it returned to Singapore on March 2 from its scheduled voyage. The company made the decision to suspend cruise operations as a result of mounting pressure from creditors.
The cruise line said that its liquidity was deteriorating, and that it couldn’t secure more funding. The company also blamed its lack of operational income on the fact that new passenger reservations were suspended so the provisional liquidators for Genting Hong Kong would have time to analyze the operations. The limited passenger capacity due to COVID-19 also contributed to the company’s lack of income.
Genting Hong Kong filed for liquidation in a court in Bermuda back in January. Since then, Genting’s cruise lines have been hit hard.
Last month, the Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity were seized in the Bahamas over unpaid fuel bills. Crystal Cruises has since shut down its operations in the United States.
With Dream Cruises suspending operations, Royal Caribbean International might take over to lead the cruise market in Singapore.
