Clipper Group has acquired the 4,954 GT, 226-berth sister ships Cape Cod Light and Cape May Light from the US Maritime Administration (Marad) for $9 million each. Both ships will be upgraded and offered for charter beginning in the summer of 2009 as Clipper Discoverer and Clipper Voyager respectively. The ships will be managed by Miami-based International Shipping Partners, which manages Clipper Group’s cruise investments and in which it recently acquired a 50% stake.
The pair of ships were originally intended for Delta Queen Coastal Voyages, a subsidiary of US-flag cruise operator American Classic Voyages (AMCV); they have been owned by Marad since AMCV defaulted on loans guaranteed by Marad. The first ship, Cape May Light, entered service in the spring of 2001 but AMCV filed for bankrupcy in October 2001, when Cape Cod Light was still under construction at Atlantic Marine in Jacksonville, Florida. She was later completed in 2004 and both ships have since been laid up near Jacksonville.
