Aurora could cancel port visit due to cable car

**Ally** · 03-05-2007, 05:02 AM

A British cruise vessel said it was likely to cancel its voyage to Nha Trang resort city if the liner was not allowed to pass under a local cable car due to its height.

With the cruise vessel Aurora at 50m high, against the permissible 49m for a liner to pass through the Vinpearl cable car system, it was forced to dock outside the Nha Trang port and transfer foreign passengers to other ships before they could disembark.

Nha Trang authorities said the requirement aimed to guarantee the safety for seafaring ships, their passengers and the cable car system, which only began operation last month.

But the Aurora captained feared that around 2,600 passengers, particularly the elderly and the disabled would face difficulty as a result of the required transfer.

Thus, the British vessel said it would resort to terminating the trip to Nha Trang, one of the most beautiful bays in the world.

As scheduled, the Aurora was to arrive in Nha Trang March 12 from Singapore with some 2,600 international tourists on board.

The Nha Trang-based Vietnam Ocean Shipping Agency had initially planned to receive the vessel.

John · 03-09-2007, 11:02 AM

here is an update on this story. Aurora did cancel it's cruise visit to the port. The cancellation has resulted in a possible inquiry

Quote:

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung asked authorities Wednesday to report an incident in which a British cruise ship was refused entry to Nha Trang’s main port due to a cable car obstructing its passage.

PM Dung has ordered the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Khanh Hoa provincial authorities to submit a report on the event, fearing that the low-hanging privately owned cable system, initially intended as a tourism booster, will in fact hinder the industry if more ships are refused entry.

The captain of the British cruise vessel Aurora warned last week that its scheduled trip to Nha Trang on March 12 might be cancelled if the ship was not allowed to pass under the low-hanging Vinpearl cable car line, which connects the resort city to Hon Tre island where the privately owned Vinpearl resort is situated.

The vessel is 50 metres high while navigation clearance beneath the system is only 49 metres.

The Nha Trang Port Authority asked the British cruise ship to dock outside Nha Trang Port where its passengers could be transferred to the mainland in smaller vessels.

After initially refusing the offer fearing difficulties for elderly and disabled passengers, Aurora’s captain agreed to moor some 1.5 nautical miles away form the main port, Thanh Nien Online reported yesterday.

The 2,600 passengers, en route from Singapore, will then be transferred by two smaller tenders, 100 people at a time.

Meanwhile, head of the Viet Nam Marine Navigation Department Vuong Dinh Lam, said that large vessels could access Nha Trang Port through its larger northern entrance.

If the cable car system continues to hold back ships full of tourists, Nha Trang could lose tens of thousands of visitors a year.

This year, 25 cruise ships are scheduled to dock at Nha Trang, said the Khanh Hoa tourism authority, but some of them have already cancelled trips.

But Phan Xuan Anh of Tan Hong Co, a travel agency that organises cruises, said many ships scheduled to visit were too high to clear the cable.

Two other ships, Oriana and Princess Sapphire, have cancelled their visits to Nha Trang.

Another Dutch ship with a height of 48.1 metres did dock safely yesterday.

Out of 1,100 foreign tourists, only 550 got off the boat to tour. The fourth journey of foreigners to Nha Trang this year left in the afternoon of the same day. — VNS

John · 03-13-2007, 03:28 PM

The British cruise vessel Aurora, which had initially threatened to cancel a visit to Nha Trang after being refused entry because of a low-hanging cable car system, visited the Vietnamese resort town Monday.

The vessel moored some two nautical miles away from the port and many of its 1,760 passengers were transferred ashore by tenders.

The local Tan Hong Tourism Company said only 965 of the passengers had booked a city tour.

The vessel left for Hong Kong that evening.

Ten days ago the 53m-high liner had said it would cancel a scheduled trip to the town after being refused entry into the port past the Vinpearl cable car system which only has a permissible clearance for vessels of 49m. The captain had demurred at docking outside the town and transferring aged and infirm passengers by smaller vessels.

The telpher system connects Nha Trang with Hon Tre Island where the privately owned Vinpearl resort is situated.

Source: Thanh Nien, Tuoi Tre