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New Holland America Line ship suffers power ‘blackout’

Holland America Line’s new ship Nieuw Statendam suffered from a power failure while sailing in the Caribbean on Saturday.

A technical issue to one of the ship’s diesel generators caused a short blackout between 6.15 am and 6.50 am local time.

The incident occurred as the vessel was sailing from St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands.

A call into Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas was cancelled as a result.

“Due to the delay and in an abundance of caution while the cause of the blackout was being addressed, the scheduled port call at Half Moon Cay was cancelled,” the company said.

“We regret the disappointment this itinerary change caused our guests and compensation has been provided on board.”

Repairs were carried out and Nieuw Statendam then sailed directly to its winter base of Fort Lauderdale in Florida for an on-time arrival yesterday.

HAL stressed that all passengers and crew were “completely safe, and in calm water with good weather conditions”.

The 2,666-passenger ship, which was christened by Oprah Winfrey in Florida in February, was on a seven-day Caribbean cruise when the incident occurred.

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