170 crew members of Oceana cruise ship in North Shields must stay on board for three months while docked

Crew members of a cruise ship in North Shields will remain on board for three months while the vessel is docked.

P&O Cruise's Oceana has been docked in the Port of Tyne's NorthumbrianQuay since the beginning of June.

With cruises cancelled until at least October 15 due to the coronaviruspandemic, P&O Cruises says its home port of Southampton has no spaceto berth all of its ships, so it moved the 77,000-tonne liner to NorthShields, where it will stay for around three months.

Port of Tyne and P&O Cruises both say the 170 crew members will remainon board while the cruise liner is docked.

P&O Cruises said: "Having reviewed all of our ship operations and industry recommendations, P&O Cruises is bringing our ships home tothe UK and suspending any new cruises until October 15, 2020.

"This pause in operations has been done in an abundance of caution tosupport the global effort to contain the spread of Covid-19.

"Our home port of Southampton, unfortunately in the current climate,does not have berth availability for all our ships.

"We are consequently working with other UK ports to berth our ships. Oceana, will be berthed in the Port of Tyne.

"No visitors are permitted to our ships, other than the very few people essential to official business.

"We are extremely grateful for the support that all our partner portsare providing and the understanding of our crew."

According to Port of Tyne, the two-thousand person capacity Oceana isestimated to depart from North Shields on September 15.

A Port of Tyne spokesperson said: "In light of COVID-19, cruise shipsare gradually being brought home to the UK and require lay-by at majorports around the country.

"The P&O Cruises ship, the Oceana, will be berthing at the Port ofTyne’s Northumbrian Quay for a period of around three months.