''L'Austral'' is a cruise ship operated by the French cruise line company
Compagnie du Ponant. It is the sister vessel of ''
Le Boréal
''Le Boreal'' is a cruise ship owned and operated by the French cruise line company Compagnie du Ponant.
It cruises to Antarctica and other places.
Design and description
The vessel is in length, has 132 cabins and suites for 264 passenge ...
'' and ''
Le Soléal
''Le Soléal'' is a cruise ship operated by Compagnie du Ponant.
History
The ship was built at the Fincantieri shipyard in Ancona, Italy, and was launched on the 6 December 2012, being christened by Kiki Tauck Mahar.
The vessel started its m ...
'', being the same weight, length and breadth, along with having 132 cabins and suites for 264 passengers and 140 crew members like the other two ships. ''L'Austral'' was built in 2010 at
Fincantieri's Ancona shipyard, Italy. ''L'Austral'' was put into service on April 20, 2011.
On 9 February 2017, L’Austral collided with a stony bank near Milford Sound, New Zealand.
In 2018, Compagnie du Ponant and ship master of the ''L'Austral,'' Captain Regis Daumesnil, were charged by both Maritime NZ and the Department of Conservation (DoC) for "or endangering human life and entering a prohibited zone"
following the grounding of the cruise ship ''L'Austral'' on an uncharted rock near North East Island, the main island of the Snares Islands group, on 9 January 2017.
The grounding resulted in the ''L'Austral's'' hull being punctured in three places.
With damage to the ship's hull, Captain Daumesnil sailed 285km south to the Auckland Islands rather than seek the nearest port in Bluff, New Zealand.
The captain was fined NZ $30,000 and Ponant fined NZ $70,000.
References
External links
Compagnie du Ponant official site page about the ship
{{DEFAULTSORT:L'Austral
2010 ships
Ships built in Ancona
Ships built by Fincantieri
Ships of Compagnie du Ponant