Cruise ships trapped a long way from home
More than 1800 passengers and crew – some infected with Covid-19 – stranded off Panama were receiving mixed signals yesterday about the chance for finally reaching port in Florida. While Panamanian officials said they would let the two ships transit the Panama Canal, the cruise company said it had not been given permission and Fort Lauderdale’s mayor said he didn’t want it to dock near his city as planned, at least without extensive precautions.
Panama’s Health Ministry announced on Sunday that it would allow the Zaandam, which has been at sea since leaving Argentina on March 8 to transit the canal, though no passengers or crew would be allowed to disembark. The independent Panama Canal Authority also issued a statement saying it was preparing to ‘‘facilitate the transit of the Zaandam through the waterway.’’ The ship, which had been unable to put into any port since midMarch, had been stranded off the coast and its operator, Holland America Lines, said on Saturday that four people aboard the ship had died – though the cause was not reported – and at least two had tested positive for Covd-19.
Canada’s foreign affairs minister, Francois-Philippe Champagne, said on Sunday that his Panamanian counterpart had assured him the ship would be allowed through the canal en route to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. There were 248 Canadians among the ship’s 1243 passengers and 586 crew before it reached Panama and offloading some passengers onto a sister ship, the Rotterdam, which the cruise company said would also make the transit.
But the ships’ operator, Holland America Lines, said yesterday that it had not yet received permission for the canal transit – nor to dock at Port Everglades, its intended destination.
It was not clear what might be causing the delay in Panama, which would have to send pilots and other workers onto the ships to guide them through the canal.
But the vessel was getting less-thanwelcoming reception in Florida.
Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis issued a statement saying it was ‘‘deeply troubling’’ that the ship might be headed toward his city and he suggested sending it to some Navy base elsewhere on the Eastern Seaboard.
If it does come to Port Everglades, he said, he said strict protocols should be put in place to separate passengers, hospitalise those who need it, quarantine Americans who appear healthy and send foreign nationals quickly to their own countries.
‘‘Until I am fully briefed by the Trump administration and am comfortable with their plans, I cannot support the Zaandam docking in my community,’’ he added. –AP