Paspaley 'steals' bankrupt Island Escape

#expeditioncruising .

As previously reported on Expedition Cruising, NZ's Island Escape Cruises abandoned scores of passengers out of pocket after cancelling Kimberley coast voyages last year without notice.

The company subsequently went into receivership and the brand new luxury 53m superyacht was seized by authorities at Broome Port.

It has been revealed that pearling dynasty, Paspaley Group, purchased Island Escape at the 'fire sale' price of  $5.5 million, a mere fraction of its estimated value of $40 million.

This is bad news for unsecured creditors, like passengers Steven Davies and his wife who had paid more than $20,000 for their once-in-a-lifetime holiday. The total owing to passengers and unlikely to be repaid was $4.6 million.

Marshall Island-flagged Island Escape was seized by a marshal of the Federal Court and an urgent sale was ordered on November 30. Paspaley Group had the highest bid of $5.5 million on January 13 and it was handed over on February 22. The vessel is currently docked at Fremantle.

Perhaps, given their windfall acquisition, Paspaly might make the disaffected passengers some kind of goodwill offer. It may go some way to repairing any loss of confidence in the region's cruise industry.

Material for this report was sourced from ABC Kimberley