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Stranded ship sets course for home after US$2.8m payment
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Detained Chinese cruise liner Henna left South Korea’s Jeju Island for China at 8:30pm yesterday, the Chinese Consulate General on Jeju said.
The ship, with around 85 people still on board, including tour guides and HNA Tourism staff, is expected to arrive in Tianjin tomorrow morning, consular official Sun Limin told the Xinhua news agency.
Two chartered planes flew around 430 passengers back to Beijing yesterday afternoon. On Sunday, five chartered planes had taken 1,121 passengers back to China.
HNA Tourism, the Beijing-based operator of the Henna, paid a deposit of 3 billion won (US$2.8 million) to a court in Jeju for the release of the ship, Xinhua said.
Every passenger agreeing to be flown home signed an agreement with HNA accepting compensation of about 2,000 yuan (US$327) or a free ticket on the Henna within a year, Sun said.
The Henna, with 1,659 passengers and a crew of 650 on board, had been due to sail from Jeju to Incheon on Friday afternoon.
It was detained before departure by the Jeju court after it received a seizure application from a subsidiary company of Jiangsu Shagang Group Co Ltd.
Some passengers had refused to be flown home, demanding more compensation.
Beijing tourist Liu Sha, who was traveling with four family members, said: “We are not satisfied with the compensation and chose to stay and continue negotiations with HNA Cruise crew.” Liu said some toilets onboard had been shut down, there was no hot water, and no 24-hour catering.
Some older passengers were in poor health, Liu said.
HNA Cruise said it would continue negotiating with passengers.
The luxury liner set off from China’s northern port of Tianjin last Friday to sail around the Korean Peninsula and had been due to return six days later. Travel agencies said more than 1,000 passengers who had paid for a trip on the Henna due to set off from Tianjin yesterday would get their money back as the ship had not returned.
Grand China Logistics Holding (Group) Co Ltd, a subsidiary of HNA Group, said yesterday that the Shagang subsidiary had no right to apply to the court to seize the ship.
The dispute arose after the Shagang subsidiary accused Grand China Shipping Co Ltd of failing to pay a renting fee for one of its cruise ships.
A court in London ruled that Grand China Shipping should pay US$58.37 million to the Shagang subsidiary.
Because the shipping company had gone bankrupt, the Shagang subsidiary said HNA Group should pay, but the result of a lawsuit against HNA has yet to be announced.
Grand China Logistics Holding (Group) Co Ltd said it had sold Grand China Shipping before the lawsuit, and was no longer a shareholder.
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