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Star Clipper, cruise ship sailing under Maltese flag, stops in Batam
Sailing under the Maltese flag, cruise ship Star Clipper stopped in Batam, Riau Islands, on June 8.
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Lovina, Bali, Indonesia - Aug. 8, 2018. Four masted Barquentine, cruise ship Star Clipper (Valletta, Malta). (Shutterstock/Jarretera)
Sailing under the Maltese flag, cruise ship Star Clipper stopped in Batam, Riau Islands on June 8 as reported by kompas.com.
The captain of Star Clipper, Sergey Tunikov, sailed along with his crew of 76 and 74 passengers from 13 different countries from Melaka to stop in Batam and head to Bangka Belitung, Benoa in Bali, before returning to Singapore and then Penang, Malaysia.
Travel writer Edi Sutrisno who is also familiar with tourism in Riau Islands, said in a press release that the cruise ship had undertaken immigration clearance on board through the CIQP Nongsapura International Ferry Terminal in Batam.
Read also: West Lombok welcomes thousands of Sun Princess cruise ship passengers
The arrival of Star Clipper in Batam marks the first entrance of a cruise ship to the port city in the past decade.
“The last time a cruise ship visited Batam was back in 2010. Since then, there hasn’t been a single ship that sailed into the waters here,” Edi was quoted as saying.
He went on to say that Star Clipper’s visit was expected to lead other cruise ships to follow suit, help Batam become the playing ground for them and catch up with Bintan Island that has seen many cruise ships in the past few months.
The arrival of cruise ships means significant contribution to the number of incoming tourists, considering that they carry thousands of passengers.
Edi, however, is aware that inviting a cruise ship is not as easy as flipping one’s hand. (vbp/mut)
