FLOATING FREEDOM

Posted on 11/27/2015

After exhausting their government buildings, school gyms and army barracks to process and shelters refugees, some countries are looking at different solutions. Cruise ships are seen as viable options and in spite of the wear-and-tear to the ships, cruise companies may see renting vessels for refugees as a favourable move.

Sweden has been accepting 9,000 refugees a week. They have resorted to putting migrants in heated tents, having no more government space to offer. They recently rented the world’s most northerly ski resort to house 600 migrants, and although living in a resort sounds lavish, the property is 125 miles (201 km) north of the Arctic Circle. The next step is to hire out cruise ships that will accommodate 1,500 people to get through the next year. They hope to have vessels and people in place by Christmas in Stockholm, Malmo and Gothenburg harbours. Sweden is expecting to have provided shelter to 360,000 refugees by the end of the year. The next option they are looking at is the platform of an oil rig to house people off shore. That could be in place by next summer.

Greece has leased a 2,500 capacity ship to process the thousands of Syrians who have arrived the island of Kos and are awaiting documentation. The Eleftherios Veniselo is one of the largest passenger ships in the Mediterranean, with 12 decks, shops and a casino on board. Germany has two retired ships from the seventies, housing 180 migrants on the Emscher River in Dortmund. They need more ships "We have an obligation to provide humane accommodation to all refugees who come to us, and we have to explore all the options," said Lorenz Caffier, interior minister of the Mecklenburg-West Pomerania region. The cruise ship option is even being considered in Canada. Chris Friesen of the Canadian Immigrant Settlement Sector Alliance, said the society would like to bring in a retrofitted cruise ship like the Delta Spirit Lodge, which was used for hundreds of construction workers in Kitimat last year.

For a number of cruise companies this can be profitable. Aftonbladet, the Swedish tabloid publication reports that charters will require minimal crewing, low usage of fuel oil and no stress on the expensive marine diesel engines. Apparently cruise companies are offering their vessels for a one-year lease, while migrants are assessed for refugee and asylum status. In spite of the appeal to the cruise industry, finding serviceable ships that are not in use is difficult. "Cruise ships are fully booked with passengers year-round and do not have unused capacity that can be diverted to house refugees," said a spokesman for the Cruise Lines International Association.