Shifting Gears: Inside the cruise ships stranded in the coronavirus pandemic
Happy Friday and welcome to Shifting Gears, Business Insider's weekly round up of all things transportation (or at least what's left of it).
You can sign up to get this straight to your inbox here, and don't hesitate to reach out with what we should be covering.
Most of the world's cruise lines are in a temporary shut down - and in a holding pattern on federal aid that may or may not come - but not all of the boats are parked.
As my colleague Áine Caine reports, some ships are still circling the globe looking for ports to disembark their passengers, some of whom are sick with the highly contagious COVID-19 coronavirus.
Some 1,250 passengers finally disembarked from two Holland America ships Florida on Thursday, ending a three-week saga that has sickened 250 guests and crew members. Four passengers have died. Everyone is expected to be off the ship by Friday night.
In one instance, New York City marketer Brian Foran begged his parents not to board the Zaandam ship on March 7. They went anyway, and he told his story to Jimmy Im.
Since March 22 - the day after the cruises were set to end - all of the passengers have been self-isolating in their staterooms. (Yikes). And the healthy of those passengers, 311 of whom are American, will be taken to Port Everglades airport for charter flights under a plan developed by the state of Florida. They'll fly to Toronto, Atlanta, San Francisco, Paris, Frankfurt, and London.
It's possible the two boats could be the last cruises to set sail for a bit, as boats remained docked for the time being.
I was anti-cruise before this whole debacle, and have to wonder: who is going to cruise again, and how soon? That's something on the companies' minds too, I'm sure. Let me know when you'll be stepping on a cruise ship.
In other reading, there's no shortage of repurposed vessels and devastating car crashes to fill the void this weekend. Here are some more reads from the team:
- The New England Patriots' Boeing 767 private jet just flew 1.2 million N95 face masks from China to Boston. Take a closer look at the team plane.
- Video shows the moment a getaway car hits tree, bursts apart during 100-mph police chase through the desolate streets of Detroit
- Americans are driving less because of the coronavirus. That's hurting red-light camera revenue.
- We compared the Tesla Cybertruck, Rivian R1T, and 5 other upcoming electric pickup trucks by 11 different specs. The Cybertruck won nearly half.
- The world's largest passenger plane will soon be ready to fly medical supplies and perform rescue missions. Take a look inside Hi Fly's Airbus A380.
- Hollywood billionaire David Geffen has been self-isolating on his superyacht in the Caribbean during the coronavirus pandemic. Take a look at the $590 million yacht.
- The US auto industry has stepped up yet again in a time of crisis as the nation battles the coronavirus pandemic
And get the latest coronavirus analysis and research from Business Insider Intelligence on how COVID-19 is impacting businesses.