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Regal Princess Impounded at Fincantieri Shipyard last month by Italian Court

need2cruisesoon

By need2cruisesoon,
in Princess Cruises

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need2cruisesoon

need2cruisesoon

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The Regal princess was impounded last month at the Fincantieri shipyard by an Italian court over a workers compensation claim. The claim says a construction worker at the shipyard was injured back in 2007 and relegated to a wheel chair and was never given given the full compensatory amount for damages. This is according to the publication/website The Meditelegraph in Italy.

 

I do not know if this court case has been resolved or still in litigation and have not heard of any new information.

 

I have no idea how this will impact upcoming inaugural cruises or whether Princess has a back up plan.

 

Please note another thread here by DMWNC1959 "Countdown to Regal Princess" has been following the progress and completion of the ship as she gets ready to sail in May has asked a curious question in a recent thread -

"With less than two months until her Maiden Voyage I'm still surprised we have heard literally nothing, or seen more updates, from Princess Cruises or the shipyard."

Perhaps now we have a better understanding now why this is the case of relatively no news per se.

 

LINK

http://www.themeditelegraph.com/en/2014/02/11/regal-princess-fincantieri-jrzHEAFPZrWcYGUv8HKVDL/index.html

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beg3yrs

beg3yrs

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I wouldn't fret over it even if I was booked on the maiden voyage. The impound is to guarantee there's going to be money available to pay the claim if it's found to be valid. Princess can easily post a bond to eliminate the impound. Kind of like bail!

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Loonbeam

Loonbeam

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Until Fincantieri transfers the ship to Princess, and Princess makes final payment, they don't own the ship yet, the builder still does technically. It's like ordering and buying a house, until final payment is transferred, its the builders.

 

Also, impounding a ship, depending on the terms, doesn't necessarily mean work has to stop. A judge can issue an order that the ship not sail but people can still come and go. It would be assumed that the value of the hull itself would be sufficient to backstop the claim (I would hope) so no concern about people taking off tools, etc..

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AlaskaGolden

AlaskaGolden

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Is this the next ship due for deployment out of that yard? If so, it makes some sense the court would do this. But doesn't the ship yard have other assets (like bank accouts, real property) that could have "holds" put on them? That is what probably would have happened in the U.S.

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peety3

peety3

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Frankly, who cares? In the grand scheme of things, that ship is only worth its maximum if it delivers to Princess. If the court were to hold up its sale, the value will diminish, and so will the court's ability to settle the claim. If the court were to force it to auction, any other line would have guaranteed costs to modify the ship's name and probably the deck plans/decor/etc.

 

This is most likely just a lien, so if/when the ship is sold to Princess, the court can be first in line to divert a payment to the injured individual.

 

It's much like a home foreclosure due to unpaid HOA dues: the HOA does a foreclosure, then sells the home. Upon sale, the mortgage is settled, the HOA gets their back dues, and the former owner gets all remaining equity. Extremely "inconvenient" to the former owner, but by no means does the former owner simply "lose their house". (They lose plenty in the fees and timing of the sale, and could be in a real pickle of the equity is upside-down, but...)

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Carolyn R

Carolyn R

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Ah ha! So that is why the Regal was in dry dock for over a month for a job that should only have taken about a week. The sea trials were to have taken place the middle of March and are now three weeks behind schedule. I hope they can get everything completed in time. We don't even know who the godmother or even the captain will be yet. Strange.

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bermudiana

bermudiana

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Ah ha! So that is why the Regal was in dry dock for over a month for a job that should only have taken about a week. The sea trials were to have taken place the middle of March and are now three weeks behind schedule. I hope they can get everything completed in time. We don't even know who the godmother or even the captain will be yet. Strange.

 

Carolyn, I received an email a few weeks back that the Captain is to be Ed Perrin. :)

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Roses2

Roses2

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The financial machinations involved in a cruise company building a ship are far more complicated than one might imagine.

 

The Regal Princess cost is estimated to be $750 million (That is three-quarters of a billion dollars).

 

Generally the cruise line management (Carnival Corporation) floats a loan to cover the cost of the construction of the ship and contracts with the ship builder, in this case, Fincantieri shipyard. In most cases the company would pay agreed amounts at certain bench marks during the construction and make final payment after acceptance of the completed ship following inspections and sea trials. When the ship has been delivered Carnival Corporation probably will have paid Fincantiieri an estimated $750 million.

 

The corporation "bean counters" project the revenue of the new ship based on the forecast occupancy and spending patterns using the first revenue day. Should the Regal not be delivered on time, those "bean counters" would be mighty upset.

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Loonbeam

Loonbeam

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I think it was after the Splendor fire, a US judge put a lien on one of the ships in TX, was resolved before scheduled sail.

 

Wasn't there some situation that involved Carnival a few years ago when a judge ordered one of the ships not to sail (it wasn't a ship that hadn't sailed yet' date=' IIRC) because of some charges someone made against Carnival?[/quote']
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bermudiana

bermudiana

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Posted
Ah ha! So that is why the Regal was in dry dock for over a month for a job that should only have taken about a week. The sea trials were to have taken place the middle of March and are now three weeks behind schedule. I hope they can get everything completed in time. We don't even know who the godmother or even the captain will be yet. Strange.

 

Now how did I miss that? Thanks for the info. I did hear that Ron Goodman was to be the CD.

 

You're welcome and yes I heard about Ron as well, although no official from him yet.

 

BTW...where in VT do you live if you don't mind my asking? My son just moved from Burlington down the road to Essex.

 

Elaine

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dmwnc1959

dmwnc1959

Posted
Posted
Please note another thread here by DMWNC1959 "Countdown to Regal Princess" has been following the progress and completion of the ship as she gets ready to sail in May has asked a curious question in a recent thread -

"With less than two months until her Maiden Voyage I'm still surprised we have heard literally nothing, or seen more updates, from Princess Cruises or the shipyard."

 

Perhaps now we have a better understanding now why this is the case of relatively no news per se.

 

 

Interesting thread and great discussion. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

 

Although I can see why Princess Cruises may be mum about this event due to legal technicalities, the lack of 'new news' reminds me of a funny TV commercial I saw this weekend... the second kid doesn't get as much fanfare as the first. ;) Being as Regal Princess is a near duplicate of Royal Princess, there's less to introduce us to that hasn't already been covered during the first 'baby'.

 

:D

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skf

skf

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But doesn't the ship yard have other assets (like bank accouts, real property) that could have "holds" put on them? That is what probably would have happened in the U.S.

Not necessarily...Our first cruise line, Regency, had one of its ships seized in 1996 by US Marshals. They owed their caterer hundreds of thousands of dollars.

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Colo Cruiser

Colo Cruiser

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But doesn't the ship yard have other assets (like bank accouts, real property) that could have "holds" put on them? That is what probably would have happened in the U.S.

Not necessarily...Our first cruise line, Regency, had one of its ships seized in 1996 by US Marshals. They owed their caterer hundreds of thousands of dollars.

 

Actually in the US they would go after the ships as well.

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Carolyn R

Carolyn R

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You're welcome and yes I heard about Ron as well, although no official from him yet.

 

BTW...where in VT do you live if you don't mind my asking? My son just moved from Burlington down the road to Essex.

 

Elaine

 

I live in Stowe, but my son and his family live in Burlington.

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swedish weave

swedish weave

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But doesn't the ship yard have other assets (like bank accouts, real property) that could have "holds" put on them? That is what probably would have happened in the U.S.

Not necessarily...Our first cruise line, Regency, had one of its ships seized in 1996 by US Marshals. They owed their caterer hundreds of thousands of dollars.

 

It was much worse than that. Regency had all their ships seized and went out of business.

 

We were on one that got the side torn out in the Panama canal. They patched the hole at Crystobal and we headed straight for Florida where that ship was seized. The crew had to find their way home, and some passengers who had booked TransAtlantic were stranded in Florida. Our TA arranged to get us back to Calif even though we had missed our flight by a full day.

 

Here is the link to the story about the Carnival Triumph that was seized in Texas. It was the result of a lawsuit filed by the family of a German tourist who was killed on the Costa Concordia.

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-31/texas-judge-orders-cruise-ship-seizure-in-costa-concordia-suit.html

Edited by swedish weave
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