The Belgian Post Office has issued another miniature sheet in the build up to Antverpia 2010. The scene, again, shows the Antwerp quayside. There are three ships to be seen. Two are small white hulled excursion vessels, probably from the Flandria fleet. The third vessel, on the right hand side of the quay, is the Norwegian cruise ship FRAM from the Hurtigruten fleet.
Her keel laying ceremony took place on 21 August 2006 at Fincantieri's largest shipyard at Monfalcone, near Trieste, Italy. The MS FRAM was floated for the first time in November 2006, followed by test sailings in February 2007. Fincantieri delivered the vessel to the Hurtigruten ASA Group on 23 April 2007. The ship was named MS FRAM in an official naming ceremony on 19 May 2007 and made its maiden voyage to Greenland that same month.
She was built as a Passenger/Ro-Ro Cargo Ship under yard No 6144.
Passengers: 500
Berths: 280
Gross tonnage: 11647
Net 3818
DWT: 984
Length: 114
Beam: 20.2
Draught: fwd 5.1/4.8m; aft 5.3/4.9m.
Speed: 13
Call Sign : LADA7
Engine problems in Antarctica on 28 December 2007 caused the FRAM to drift into a glacier front at Brown Bluff and suffer damage to a single lifeboat. There were no reported injuries to the 318 passengers nor damage to the ship itself. The ship was able to restart its engines quickly and made its way to the Chilean base Frei at King Georges Island for inspection. After the inspection, the decision was made to send the ship back to Ushuaia, scheduled to arrive on 2 January 2008.
On 9 October 2009 the Norwegian American Chamber of Commerce invited members and guests to a reception on board MS FRAM when the vessel made a rare stop in Manhattan on its way to its winter destination. The vessel sails the Greenland waters in the summer and Antarctica in the winter
On 9 April 2010 FRAM is due to sail from the UK ferry port of Dover on a 10 day cruise to Western Norway and Oslo.
2017 Same name and owner, IMO No. 9370018.
Belgium 2010.
Uruguay 2016 20p sg?, scott?
Sources:
http://www.hurtigruten.com/Greenland/Sh ... p/MS-Fram/
http://www.hurtigruten.com/Greenland/Sh ... ?tab=decks
http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/reviews/r ... ShipID=406
Peter Crichton.
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