V.Ships Leisure teams up with Mystic Cruises to provide crew services for the first expedition vessel, World Explorer
V.Ships Leisure, part of V.Group, the leading global marine support services provider, has partnered with Mystic Cruises to provide crew management services including deck, engine, and hotel crew for the 9,300 GRT ice-classed vessel World Explorer.
The vessel, which is currently under the final stages of construction at WestSea Viana Shipyard in Portugal will be delivered to Mystic Cruises in Q2 2019. With capacity for 200 passengers, World Explorer will be Mystic Cruises’ first newbuild expedition vessel, and will feature innovative hybrid power management technology.
World Explorer will be on charter to Nicko Cruises during the summer and to Quark Expeditions during the Antarctica season. The vessel is the first in a planned series of up to 10 expedition vessels for Mystic Cruises, which intends to operate them with various charterers and directly through their new office in the USA.
V.Group continues to invest in enhancing its operating model, with safety and quality front and centre. With the largest network of owned recruitment centres across the world, V.Group is taking positive steps through its Project Embark programme to invest in, and attract the best crewing talent from across the globe by focusing on the digital journey of the seafarer. Most recently, the company launched the first wave of its V.Crew Connect app in India, giving seafarers access to a seamless experience to support and ease the mobilisation and disembarkation process, and contract management. In addition, V.Group, V.Travel, and GMT recently combined resources to create a market-leading platform for managing and simplifying the seafarer journey from home to ship and back.
V.Ships Leisure has a long track record of supporting the expedition cruise segment. To meet the rapidly increased demand for crew with necessary training in line with Polar Code requirements, V.Group’s training supplier, Marlins, recently developed an interactive e-learning for the Polar Code, in order to increase the pool of qualified talent for this sector.
About V.Group
V.Group is the leading global marine and offshore vessel management and support services provider, with circa 3,000 colleagues based across 60 offices globally, supporting over 44,000 seafarers.
About Mystic Cruises
Mystic Cruises is part of Mystic Invest Holding Company that owns two dozen companies and is renowned for its river cruise brands Nicko Cruises in Germany and DouroAzul in Portugal. The group is the 3rd largest River Vessel operator in the world.