THE final ship in the Thurrock-based Cruise & Maritime Voyages' fleet has arrived back home after the company cancelled all its operations because of coronavirus.

Though non of the ships in the company's fleet had had any cases of Covid-19, CMV made the decision in May to call a halt to cruising for the time being, which meant a significant logistical operation to get passengers home, and ships back to their home parts.

The final ship at sea, Vasco da Gama, arrived in Tilbury today at the end of her return voyage to the UK with no passengers on board. Vasco da Gama sailed from Phuket, Thailand on 18 March to Australia to repatriate passengers and has now returned to the UK.

Vasco da Gama repatriated her passengers, 798 Australian and 108 New Zealand Nationals, to Fremantle, Australia before sailing on a 6,098 nautical mile voyage back to the UK on 30th March. There are 552 crew members on board, including eight British Nationals.

The voyage included a technical call for fuel Cape Town, South Africa on 13 April before sailing to the London Cruise Terminal at Tilbury where she arrived today (Friday, 1 May).

CMV crew who are not British Nationals will remain on board whilst quarantine measures remain in place. The eight British Nationals will return home.

Christian Verhounig, CEO at Cruise & Maritime Voyages said: "We are tremendously proud of our onboard and shoreside teams for their fantastic job with the repatriation voyages and the return of Vasco da Gama to the UK.

"On behalf of the directors, staff and especially our hard-working crew, CMV would like to thank all of our passengers for their support, patience and understanding at this time."