The German cruise shipbuilding company Meyer Werft suspended works on P&O Cruises’ ship Iona. The unfinished vessel is currently docked in Bremerhaven Germany. The newbuild was moved from Meyer’s shipyard in Papenburg Germany (on Ems River) to Bremerhaven for outfitting. However, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, works on the vessel's interior were suspended and sea trials postponed, the company announced in a statement.
Only the people needed for the safety of Iona will remain onboard.
Iona is the first of two 185,000-GT liners planned for P&O UK. The ship's inaugural cruise is scheduled to depart Southampton on May 14 (2020) for a 9-day Norwegian Fjords itinerary. The second (yet unnamed) sistership is planned to enter service with P&O UK in 2022.
For Coronavirus updates on cruise ship quarantines (infected passengers and crew) and top-pandemic countries (COVID-19 cases and deaths, daily updated statistics) see at CruiseMapper's Norovirus page.