On April 18, data from the Automatic Identification System (AIS) showed that 3 international cruise ships had left port to move through the Strait of Hormuz, after being stranded for 47 days due to regional conflict.
The ships Celestyal Journey, Mein Schiff 5 and MSC Euribia have officially unroofed. This is the next group of ships to leave immediately after the Celestyal Discovery successfully made a transshipment through this area on the afternoon of April 17. As of now, out of 6 tourist ships stranded in the Gulf since the end of February, 4 ships have left port and only 2 ships are still anchored on the spot.
According to the schedule on the maritime management system, the ship MSC Euribia registered the destination as Muscat port (Oman). The two ships Celestyal Journey and Mein Schiff 5 listed Khasab port (Oman) - located at the gateway to the Strait of Hormuz - as the next stop.
However, based on the operating data of the Celestyal Discovery ship before, experts believe that these ships are likely to skip the stop at Khasab to go straight through the strait and dock at Muscat port to ensure the safety of the journey.
Currently, 2 cruise ships are still staying in the Gulf region, Mein Schiff 4 (located in Abu Dhabi, belonging to TUI Cruises of Germany) and Aroya (owned by a Saudi Arabian company, currently anchored at Dammam port). Ship companies said that all passengers have been repatriated before, so current trips only include crew.
The simultaneous departure of shipping lines takes place in the context of reports about a temporary ceasefire agreement helping the Strait of Hormuz to be declared "open" to civilian ships.
This is an effort by transport units to move high-value ships out of the risk zone before the tourist season in the Mediterranean begins. However, directing these ships back to Europe is still a difficult problem because the route through the Red Sea is still limited due to security concerns.
