A new German company, funded by Indian businessman Pradeep Agrawal, has acquired the laid up Delphin (1975/16,214gt) and will return her to service in April. Passat Kreuzfahrten includes among its senior management Andreas Hey, son of Hans Herbert Hey, the original owner of Delphin Cruises. The 550-passenger vessel, previously operated by Hansa Kreuzfahrten, which was arrested in Villefranche in October 2010 and has since been laid up in Venice, is currently being refurbished at the Viktor Lenac Shipyard in Rijeka, Croatia. Her first sailing on 3 April is a ten-day cruise from Venice to Istanbul, calling at Dubrovnik, Corfu, Gythion, Nauplia, Santorini, Delos, Mykonos and Volos.Delphin was built as Belorussiya, the first of five sisters constructed at Wärtsilä’s Turku Shipyard for the Soviet Union’s Black Sea Shipping Company. She was subsequently renamed Kazakhstan II in 1993.
