The former ice-class cruiseship Hanseatic has left the Blohm+Voss shipyard in Hamburg prior to joining Canadian charterer One Ocean Expeditions.
The 8,400-gt vessel (built 1991), which has been renamed RCGS Resolute, spent nearly a week completing upgrades at the yard.
“We successfully handed the vessel over to the new charterers on Sunday [7 October],” a spokesman for the shipyard told TradeWinds.
The vessel was previously on charter to Hapag-Lloyd Cruises but is being replaced by one of the expedition cruiseship newbuildings the German operator has ordered at Vard.
The 16,100-gt Hapag Nature and Hapag Inspiration are due for delivery by Vard in 2019.
In July this year, Hapag-Lloyd ordered a third expedition cruiseship at the same builder, the 15,650-gt Hanseatic Spirit, for launch in the second quarter of 2021.
All three are said to be structurally identical.
The RCGS Resolute, built in 1991 to the highest ice-class of 1AS, features high-density steel plating and stainless-steel propellers.
It joins One Ocean Expedition’s 6,500-gt sisterships Akademik Ioffe (built 1989) and Akademik Sergey Vavilov (built 1988) in Arctic, Antarctic and warmer water cruises.
It is reported that the RCGS Resolute has been taken on long-term charter with options until 2028.
Technical management of the vessel, TradeWinds is told, remains with Columbia Cruise Services.
