- The luxury cruise ship will not be delivered as planned to its American shipowner Celebrity Cruises.
- According to site management, the crew members are confined to the liner.
It should still be docked for several days, even weeks. The “Celebrity Apex”, this luxury cruise ship built at the Atlantic yards and now completed, should not leave Saint-Nazaire anytime soon. The coronavirus epidemic which rages in France and in the world has completely upset the plans of its American owner, Celebrity Cruises, to whom the liner was to be officially handed over this Friday.
"The delivery should however be made in the coming days," we told the yards. "The inaugural cruise, which was destined for Southampton, has been canceled," we complete at Celebrity Cruises. The christening of the boat will be in Miami next November. "
In the meantime, around 1,500 crew members have been confined on board for about a week, according to the site management, which specifies that this measure does not concern any of its employees. No case of Covid-19 has been reported on board, but the issue is precisely that no personnel descend and are contaminated on land. Celebrity Cruises, whose cruises are canceled until April 11, did not provide details.
Application for partial unemployment filed
While the unions have been asking for a complete stop for several days, the Atlantic shipyards announced on Friday the closure of new services, in addition to the workshops, for two weeks.
Despite an order book provided, management said it had filed a request for recourse to short-time working on Friday. Recruitments and renewals of temporary work contracts are frozen until further notice, says management.
Health
VIDEO. Coronavirus in Marseille: Nearly 640 passengers from a cruise ship, some of whom have Covid-19 symptoms, disembarked
Society
Coronavirus: No, you can't take your boat or board to go for a swim
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