Initially, Passat Kreuzfahrten cancelled its winter 2014-15 cruise programme with the former Russian vessel Delphin, but recently the owner has terminated the 2014 summer charter early and will not be chartering the ship to Passat for the advertised summer 2015 programme. As a result, Passat Kreuzfahrten ceased to trade at the end of the ship’s last cruise, on 2 September 2014.
Delphin was built in 1975 by Wärtsilä at Turku as the first in a series of five cruise ships with vehicle decks, enabling rapid conversion to troopships if required, for the Black Sea Shipping Company of Odessa.
The 16,214gt ship was named Byelorussiya, and with the break-up of the Soviet Union she became Ukrainian-owned. Following an accident in dry dock in Singapore in 1982 in which the ship toppled over, she went to Bremerhaven for repairs. Later named Kazakhstan II, she was laid up during the financial crisis that encompassed her owners. By 1998 she had been renamed Delphin and for the next 12 years she operated on charter to Hansa Kreuzfahrten.
