Japan’s giant Shin Nihonkai Ferry conglomerate has completed its exit from cruise with the sale of the last ship owned by subsidiary Venus Cruise.
The 26,500-gt Pacific Venus (built 1998) has been sold to Panamanian single-ship entity Eastern Venus Inc, which took delivery last week.
Renamed Eastern Venus upon delivery to its new owner, the 680-passenger ship is destined for a new cruising career out of South Korea.
The new operator and manager is listed in the International Register of Shipping as DuWon Shipping, a Donghae-based ferry company.
Sources close to DuWon said that the ship, which is undergoing reactivation in Japan, will be refurbished at a shipyard in northern Asia before launching a service out of South Korea.
South Korea, with a large, affluent population, was glaringly absent from the pre-Covid Asian cruise boom in which international cruise lines targeted Chinese, Japanese and Singaporeans by moving ships into these countries’ main ports.
Two South Korean shipowners, Hyundai Merchant Marine and Polaris Shipping, had previously launched cruise operations targeting a domestic clientele, but made quick exits.
Venus Cruise was an established player in the Japanese market when the decision was taken in December 2022 to liquidate the company. The Pacific Venus was placed in lay-up at the conclusion of its final voyage for the company last January.
Although the company did not provide any reason for doing so, industry insiders said Shin Nihonkai wanted to focus its investment capital on its core ferry business, re-equipping its fleet with a new generation of environmentally sustainable ropaxes.
With only one ageing ship, Venus Cruise was deemed to be too non-core to warrant the investment in new cruise tonnage.
