Fred Olsen pulls out of Thomas Cook

Cruise line Fred Olsen is believed to have become the first supplier to end its relationship with Thomas Cook after insurer Euler Hermes pulled its third-party cover for products sold by the retailer.

Fred Olsen confirmed in a statement that it had ended its trading relationship with Thomas Cook Co-operative Travel following discussions over recent weeks.

It said it had a policy not to trade with any agent where any money collected on its behalf was not financially protected. It added that it would be writing to any customers who had booked its cruises through Thomas Cook and not yet paid their full balance and collecting the balance payment directly.

Euler Hermes last week wrote to a number of suppliers giving them 30-days notice of its intention to pull cover for new bookings taken by Thomas Cook.

Fred Olsen sales and marketing director Nathan Philpot said: "We have enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship with Thomas Cook and The Co-operative Travel retail outlets and we will end our relationship in amicable fashion following our discussions where, regrettably, we were unable to reach agreement. We thank TCCT and all their staff who have booked clients on to our cruise ships over the years. We hope this is only a temporary measure and that we can begin trading again soon."  

Thomas Cook confirmed that it would no longer be racking Fred Olsen products from today or making any new bookings for the cruise line. In a statement it said: "Whilst we don’t disclose confidential terms with individual suppliers, we can confirm that we’ve not been able to reach agreement with Fred Olsen on new commercial arrangements. Therefore, from today, we will not be racking their products nor making new bookings with them through our network of 1,200 stores or via our call centres.

"We are the UK’s largest retailer of cruise holidays selling all the major cruise operators, and Fred Olsen represented only a very small part of our UK retail business. We also sell more third party holidays than any other UK travel retailer alongside our own tour operator products."
"Of course customers who have already booked with us to travel on a Fred Olsen cruise can be reassured that their holiday will continue as booked."

She claimed Fred Olsen accounts for less than 4% of Thomas Cook’s UK cruise business and less than 0.5% of its total retail customers.

By Linsey McNeill
 

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