An outbreak of Covid-19 has occurred on a Greek-owned passenger ship held in quarantine off Piraeus while carrying hundreds of seafarers and shiprepair workers.
Twenty out of a total 383 people aboard have tested positive for the disease, Greek health ministry officials said on Tuesday without identifying the vessel.
Shipping ministry officials told TradeWinds the ship in question is ANEK Lines’ 38,300-gt El. Venizelos (built 1992).
The vessel was chartered earlier this month to carry shiprepair workers from Turkey to Spain and host them there as a floating hotel.
Covid-19, however, caused the El. Venizelos to be held at the Piraeus anchorage, where it has been moored since 21 March, TradeWinds was told.
The first coronovirus case among those on the vessel was reported on 28 March, according to Greek coastguards.
Greek media speculate that a large part of those on board are Turkish. Coastguards only confirm that 33 among them are Greek.
Spokespersons at ANEK were not available for comment at the time of writing. The company usually operates the El. Venizelos on Greek domestic ferry routes.
Vessel trackers show the El. Venizelos left the Turkish port of Cesme on 9 March. Market sources in Istanbul say that Miray International has chartered the ship.
Miray executives did not immediately respond to an e-mail for comment. The firm, however, is known to be chartering ships to serve as floating hotels for workers performing ship repairs and conversions in Cadiz, Spain.
Repeated blows
This is just the latest blow dealt by Covid-19 on the passenger ship industry.
In another ongoing case, the 1,432-berth Zaandam (built 2000) has been desperately searching for a safe port to disembark passengers after four people died of ‘flu-like symptoms’.
Another Holland American cruiseship, the 1,404-berth Rotterdam (built 1996), has been turned away from a series of South American West coast ports because of widespread lockdown efforts throughout the continent to stop the disease from spreading.
Both the Zaandam and the Rotterdam passed the Panama Canal and were expected to arrive in Florida on Wednesday.
The El. Venizelos has had more than its fair share of bad news in recent years.
In 2018 a fire broke out while the vessel was at sea, forcing it to return to Piraeus and evacuate almost 1,000 passengers and crew without any casualties.
This article has been updated since original publication to include more details.
