The Viking Orion cruise ship, with more than 800 passengers on board, requested permission to dock in the port of Adelaide, Australia. However, the Australian authorities did not allow the ship to anchor in the port, on the grounds that “sea creatures grew” on its hull.
“POTENTIALLY HARMFUL”
According to the BBC’s report, it was stated that the fungus on the ship’s hull was “potentially harmful”.
Emphasizing that the hull of the ship should be cleaned in order to prevent harmful organisms from being transported to Australian waters, the authorities noted that professional divers started negotiations for cleaning.
LIMITED LIVES CLEANED
On the other hand, in the statement made by the operators of Viking Orion, it was stated that a limited amount of sea creatures were cleaned from the ship and this caused them to miss many stops on their routes.
In the statement, it was stated that the ship is expected to dock in Melbourne port on 2 January.
In the meantime, it was stated that the ship applied to anchor at two ports in New Zealand and one more in Australia before the city of Adelaide, but could not get permission.
With a capacity of 930 passengers, Viking Orion has 14 decks. (AA)