Hantavirus hit Oceanwide Expeditions hard. Its CEO told me the inside story

I was sitting in my parents’ kitchen, hands twitching nervously as I waited for my video call to be answered. I was about to speak to the chief executive of Oceanwide Expeditions, a cruise line I admittedly did not know much about until it was on the front page of every major news outlet in April, with scaremongering headlines warning of a potential pandemic.

The hantavirus outbreak that killed three people on board MV Hondius was a tragic and terrifying event, made even more dramatic as the virus spread on a small ship floating in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The horror gained widespread media attention at the time, but there has been no follow-up to hear of the lasting impact.

Until now, I thought, as my call connected and Remi Bouysset appeared on my screen.

What follows is that conversation.

Q: The spread of hantavirus on MV Hondius became global news very quickly and drew comparisons to the coronavirus pandemic. Talk us through the timeline of events.

Remi Bouysset: This entire situation was a tragedy. Three people lost their lives, there are people still in quarantine and it has had a huge impact on all the passengers and crew who were on board. At the initial virus breakout, it felt like the movie Alien: there was a monster on board that no one could see and it was killing people.

Once crew had discovered it was hantavirus – which no one seemed to have heard of – we operated in three phases. The first step was helping the critically ill passengers by ensuring we could disembark in Cape Verde; then we moved to Las Palmas to build a coalition of various governments, medical authorities, embassies and the World Health Organisation to repatriate their onboard nationals.

Finally, as we are a Dutch carrier, we needed to bring the ship back to the Netherlands to disinfect it, which has now been done.

Q: What was the reaction like from the passengers and crew? 

Remi Bouysset: We had around 100 passengers and 50 crew on board at the time and they were all amazing. We had good, kind people on board who understood the gravity of the situation. They were calm and respectful, and there was very strong leadership from the captain and crew who kept the passengers updated with information as circumstances developed.

The crew went above and beyond to support the passengers – this certainly wasn’t in any of their job descriptions and I was immensely proud of how they handled it.

Q: What learnings will you take forward?

Remi Bouysset: We will review the questionnaire we send to passengers before they embark to see if they have been travelling in South America prior to boarding, as that is where hantavirus is most endemic, and we will act accordingly.

We need to formalise our crisis management protocols so the crisis management team is clear on what it needs to do in a situation like this, and we can also think about evacuation processes and build on the work we did during this crisis.

Q: How has this impacted the business? 

Remi Bouysset: The business was not our main focus during the outbreak as we were completely focused on saving people, so we’ve taken a hit for sure. We had to cancel three departures and we changed the entire MV Hondius crew so they could all go into quarantine.

Unsurprisingly, we got a lot of concerned calls from customers scheduled to sail this summer, but once we explained the cleaning and safety procedures we have taken – we undoubtedly have the cleanest ship in service now – we didn’t have any cancellations.

Commercially, the month of May was slow in terms of new bookings, which isn’t a surprise given how much attention we have drawn in the press. Although customers tend to react quickly to global crises, the industry is resilient in the long term, so I’m not overly concerned about the future of the brand. We have been around for 35 years and we’re not going anywhere.

Q: Do you think the hantavirus outbreak could have a wider impact on the industry? 

Remi Bouysset: I am worried about the impact on future Antarctica cruises departing from South America. The next Antarctic season is coming and cruise lines are scheduled to bring 80,000 passengers to the region so we need to work out how to do that safely and efficiently.

I am fearful people will view hantavirus as an extreme risk in South America and they will be wary of taking an Antarctica cruise because of it. The key thing we need is an education and awareness campaign so passengers know it is safe to come to the region and that there are procedures in place in case something like this were to happen again. We also need to involve local authorities in Ushuaia to ensure there is a medical facility capable of handling a viral outbreak.

Q: What message do you want to share in the wake of this tragedy? 

Remi Bouysset: This is a human tragedy and a hugely unfortunate event. I take solace in the fact we managed the crisis reasonably well and I would now share a message of optimism that Oceanwide Expeditions is still solid, we have learned lessons and we are now about to begin our Arctic season where we will take 4,000 passengers to some amazing places. The future looks bright.

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