Setrade Insider News von heute:
... France or The Netherlands? Which location will be the final resting place for the NCL liner currently laid up in Bremerhaven? French business man Isaac Dahan has jumped the first hurdle in his bid to bring the famous liner back to Honfleur.

....Meanwhile Dutch investor Joop Post, who wants to turn the cruiseship into a hotel and leisure complex in Amsterdam, tells Seatrade Inside that the city council has now officially announced the project and the proposed water site location

Dann kann man auch gleich den ganzen Text posten, sind ja auch ein paar weitere interessante Fakten drin:

quote:

---

France or The Netherlands? Which location will be the final resting place for the NCL liner currently laid up in Bremerhaven? French business man Isaac Dahan has jumped the first hurdle in his bid to bring the famous liner back to Honfleur. The State, Basse-Normandie Regional Council, Calvados County Council, the town of Honfluer, the pays d’Auge Chamber of Commerce and the Port of Rouen have collectively agreed to finance the €17.5m infrastructural works needed to dock the ship in Honfleur.
According to the local French authorities, Dahan has until the end of this month to come up with the financing to acquire the Norway. Recent reports in the French press say the purchase price for the vessel is $21m. Dahan, who wants to bring the vessel to Honfleur as a tourist attraction/business centre, is not commenting at the moment. If he succeeds, the Norway will be docked at a new 600mtr pier downstream from the Normandie Bridge.

Meanwhile Dutch investor Joop Post, who wants to turn the cruiseship into a hotel and leisure complex in Amsterdam, tells Seatrade Insider the city council has officially announced the project and the proposed water site location.

‘We are now in a period where anyone wishing to can lodge their objections,’ informs Post. ‘This process can take about two months. We have the financing in place however we will only purchase the vessel if we get the go ahead for the project from the city council.’

Post puts the total cost to buy and turn the Norway into a floating hotel and leisure complex at around €85m. He says it will take around six months to complete the refit (including stripping out the asbestos). ‘We hope to have Norway in Amsterdam by next summer. Ideally in time for Sail Amsterdam 2005 which takes place in late August,’ says Post.

Post does not know the status of the French bid but says, 'anyone wishing to buy this vessel and position her in Europe as a floating hotel would need to satisfy a whole raft of environmental and legal issues, not just national but EU-related ones too.’

Post has plenty of experience in this field. He spent two and a half years attempting to buy the Rembrandt (ex-Rotterdam) and turn her into a floating museum. His bid was unsuccessful but such projects ‘take a lot of time,’ says Post.

The Norway was built in Saint-Nazaire for the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique and entered service as the France in 1962. Knut Utstein Kloster bought the mothballed vessel in 1979 and converted it into a cruiseship. After a May 2003 boiler explosion in Miami, the Norway was towed to Bremerhaven. NCL has said the ship will not return to North American operations.

---