An increasing share of cruise ship leaving the heat of the Caribbean and is moving up north in the Arctic, reports Sermitsiaq.
"Many cruise ships sailing in areas where there is absolutely no help to get if the accident happens. Tourists want to go where no man has gone before. There is money in the organizers so that they come," Rear Admiral Henrik Kudsk told Nyhedsmagasinet Ingeniøren.
The topic also came up during this week's hearing in Copenhagen on emergency management and security in the Arctic where experts and politicians discussed the increasing amount of challenges as the ice melts, Sermitsiaq says.
After seeing a slight decline in the number of ships during last year's financial crisis, the number of ships is now rising again, said Kudsk, who himself has had to send patrol vessels higher north than ever before.
Sermitsiaq reports that Kudsk said many of these cruise ships act irresponsibly example by sailing too far north and too close to the ice and that it approaches the luck that has not yet been disasters.
Among other things, he mentioned two recent ship which went down off Antarctica, the Explorer in November 2007 and the Ocean Nova in 2009, which again this year sailed into icy waters - this time in Greenland.
Cruise ships which have ventured too close to ice bergs in Greenland have been reported to the police.
Requirements for navigation in ice-filled waters when and international project to make a series of stringent requirements for navigation in icy waters is introduced early in 2014, Sermitsiaq notes.
