Local shipbuilders from Peru to Vietnam have come forward over the past couple of weeks to say that they have taken full control of sales and operations for ships that previously had been marketed and sold by Haimark Travel Ltd.
One of those shipbuilders, Vietnam-based Lotus Cruises Co., forwarded to Travel Weekly an email it had received on April 16 from a top executive at Haimark stating that Haimark has been shut down by Vert Capital, whose affiliate, VC2 Capital, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm, acquired Haimark Travel and its affiliated ocean cruise line, Haimark Line Ltd., in January.
The Federal Maritime Commission last month said that Haimark Line, operator of the Saint Laurent coastal ship, had canceled all future cruises, but the fate of Haimark Travel was not mentioned in the commission's statement.
The Haimark Travel website (haimarktravel.com) is no longer up and running, and Haimark Travel and VC2 Capital have not responded to requests for comments.
"Haimark Ltd has canceled all sailings on the Mekong," Chi Vu, deputy director of Lotus Cruises, wrote in an email to Travel Weekly.
Lotus Cruises built, owns and operates the 68-passenger Mekong Navigator, and it was being exclusively chartered to Haimark, which was selling capacity both directly to consumers and via partnerships with river cruise lines, such as Emerald Waterways, and tour operators.
"Despite Haimark canceling all cruises, existing bookings from clients will be honored," Vu said, adding that "Haimark no longer charters the Mekong Navigator, and guests should now contact Lotus Cruises directly for all existing and future bookings at bookings@lotuscruises.com."
Lotus Cruises is one of several shipbuilders that have made similar announcements in the past two weeks, including Myanmar-based Ayravata Cruises, which operates Paukan Cruises, the builder, owner and operator of the Irrawaddy Explorer and the Avalon Myanmar. Peruvian company Delfin Amazon Cruises, which owns the 43-passenger Amazon Discovery, also came forward to make sure consumers knew where to turn.
Both Ayravata Cruises and Delfin Amazon Cruises said Haimark no longer charters those vessels and that passengers should work with them directly in the future.
In addition to the Mekong Navigator, Amazon Discovery, Irrawaddy Explorer and Avalon Myanmar, Haimark Travel chartered and sold four other river cruise vessels: the 24-passenger Mekong Princess, the 56-passenger Ganges Voyager I and II and the Avalon Siem Reap. The Avalon Myanmar and Avalon Siem Reap were custom-built for and fully chartered to Avalon Waterways through Haimark Travel, and Avalon Waterways said it continues to manage all sales of both vessels. It said that its itineraries are continuing to operate as planned.
Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection has sailings on the Ganges Voyager II in India.
According to Uniworld president Guy Young, "We have already moved to work directly with the ship owners and as such all of our currently scheduled departures will proceed as planned without interruption."