Cruise ship too high for gondola, may cancel resort trip
15:01 04/03/2009

      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.

Source: Tuoi Tre – Translated by An Dien

Source : thanhniennews.com