Hondius Crew Complete Quarantine After Hantavirus Outbreak

All remaining Hondius crew members who were quarantined after the vessel’s hantavirus outbreak have completed their quarantine period and are returning to their home countries, Oceanwide Expeditions said June 18. The company said the crew reported no health complaints or additional hantavirus cases, and tests taken at the start of the week returned negative results.

The update closes the crew-quarantine phase of an international public-health response involving passengers and crew from the April South Atlantic voyage. The World Health Organization counted 12 confirmed cases and one probable case tied to the vessel, including three deaths.

Crew quarantine ends after Tenerife and Rotterdam disembarkations

The crew covered by Oceanwide’s update included those who disembarked when Hondius arrived in Rotterdam on May 18, as well as crew who later reached the Netherlands after leaving the ship in Tenerife on May 11. Oceanwide said the quarantined crew in the Netherlands completed the period without family members or loved ones present.

“On behalf of the entire Oceanwide Expeditions team, I want to thank all crew members for their tremendous efforts in recent weeks,” Remi Bouysset, CEO of Oceanwide Expeditions, said. He said the crew worked through “exceptionally difficult and highly unusual circumstances” and, under Captain Jan Dobrogowski, “remained calm, professional and highly coordinated.”

Oceanwide said Dutch public health authorities maintained daily contact with those involved, monitored their health and provided support during quarantine. The company also thanked Dutch public health authorities, the Rotterdam Port Authority and the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment for assisting with the vessel’s return and crew handling.

Outbreak response extended across several jurisdictions

Hondius departed Ushuaia, Argentina, on April 1 with 175 passengers and crew from 23 countries, sailing to remote South Atlantic destinations before continuing north toward Cape Verde and Tenerife. Remaining passengers were evacuated in the Canary Islands before the ship later reached Rotterdam with a reduced crew onboard.

The quarantine periods were based on the 42-day maximum incubation window cited by health officials. Hantavirus is typically associated with rodent exposure, but health authorities have said the Andes strain involved in the Hondius outbreak can spread between people in rare cases.

In the United States, CDC officials said June 24 that Americans exposed on Hondius had completed quarantine and returned home, with none of those monitored testing positive. On St. Helena, where many passengers had disembarked, the government ended its major incident on June 8 after contacts completed mandatory isolation and no active, suspected or confirmed cases remained.

Hondius returns to Arctic service after clearance

The 107.6-meter Hondius, built in 2019 as a Polar Class 6 vessel, normally carries 170 passengers on polar expeditions. Dutch health authority GGD Rotterdam-Rijnmond inspected the vessel on May 29 and cleared it to return to service on May 30 after cleaning and disinfection in Rotterdam.

“From a public health perspective, there are no objections to returning the vessel to service,” GGD Rotterdam-Rijnmond said after the inspection.

A 13-person EWS Group team treated all eight decks, including high-temperature steam cleaning of soft surfaces and disinfection of hard surfaces with registered products and hydrogen peroxide. Qualified third-party professionals also declared the ship rodent-free. Oceanwide said medical and epidemiological information indicated the virus was introduced before embarkation and did not originate from the vessel or its onboard operating standards.

Oceanwide said Hondius was operating in the Arctic as scheduled with an entirely new crew. The company has said no further disruption to the ship’s sailing program is expected.