Following CMV’s immediate suspension of its voyages between 13 March and 24 April, passengers onboard two of its ships have been unable to reach land because of port lockdowns.

However, the vessels have been able to meet 12 nautical miles from Phuket in Thailand to redistribute passengers according to where they will be repatriated.

Nearly 240 guests, 500 pieces of their luggage and provisions were moved between ships using smaller tender boats over more than five hours.

Columbus, which was halted in Indonesia during a four-month round-the-world cruise, will now sail to the UK with 907 passengers.

This includes 602 British nationals and 619 crew.

Meanwhile Vasco da Gama, which was stopped during a voyage from Fremantle and Singapore with 839 passengers, will go on to Australia with 952 passengers and 552 crew members. 

“We are tremendously proud of our onboard and shoreside teams for their fantastic job in delivering this safe and effective evacuation and relief operation,” said Christian Verhounig, chief executive at CMV.

Columbus has to call at Colombo, Sri Lanka then via the Suez Canal before it arrives back in Tilbury on 13 April.

There have been no cases of Covid-19 on either ship.