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Asia Pacific
Pandaw cruises in India sunk by rebels and red tape
Pandaw Cruises has pulled its river cruise operation out of India, calling it “a disaster”.
Ten, two week cruises were operated on an 800-mile stretch of the Ganges between Varanasi and Calcutta and more than 500 passengers carried.
Navigational and security challenges were just too great, the company said in a statement. “The river proved too high, too low or too fast to safely operate.
“Groundings, with damage to engines and propellers were frequent and there was a lack support ashore for repairs.
“The close presence of Maoist revolutionaries in Bihar necessitated the presence of heavily armed special forces personnel on the ship.”
The statement went on, “A further reason for Pandaw’s pulling out is the fact that the company were not able to operate their own vessel, with their own crew.
“The Pandaw crew who flew in to start up the operation and train locals were expelled from the country under its immigration laws.
“The crew provided by an Indian partner proved untrained and inexperienced. Pandaw had grave concerns as to their ability to respond in the event of a fire or other disaster on board and there were similar concerns over hygiene.
“In view of the enormous disparity between the quality offered in India with the quality of Pandaw’s other ships Pandaw could not continue to offer this cruise under the Pandaw brand.”
Pandaw plans to reposition the vessel on the Mekong where it will join three other vessels plying this popular routing.
Said Pandaw founder Paul Strachan, “You win some, you lose some. Pandaw has grown enormously over 15 years and this is the first challenge that went wrong. We lost a lot of money in India but we learnt a lot of lessons.”
Pandaw plans to open two new routes in 2011 on the Upper Mekong in Laos and Kapuas in Indonesia. That will bring the fleet up to seven ships in six Southeast Asian countries.
Ian Jarrett
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