SS Maxim Gorkiy - Service History - With Phoenix Reisen

With Phoenix Reisen

In September 1988 the Maksim Gorkiy was chartered to Phoenix Reisen of West Germany for twenty years. Despite being in service for Phoenix, the ship maintained her mainly Soviet crew (later Russian/Ukrainian) and the Soviet Union's funnel colours. Even after the collapse of the Soviet Union she was painted in the new colours of independent Russia, not those of Phoenix Reisen.

In 1989 the Maksim Gorkiy made headlines twice. On around midnight on 19 June 1989 she hit an ice floe while on a cruise near Svalbard and begun to sink rapidly. All passengers and a third of the crew were instructed to abandon ship, while the Norwegian coast guard vessel Senja was dispatched to assist. By the time the Senja arrived on the scene some three hours later, the Maksim Gorkiy was already partially submerged. The passengers were evacuated from the lifeboats and ice floes by helicopters and the Senja, taken to Svalbard and later flown back to Germany. Meanwhile the crew of the Senja had managed to stop the Maksim Gorkiy's sinking, by which time her bow had already sunk down to the level of the main deck. On 21 June the Maksim Gorkiy was towed to Svalbard where quick repairs were made to make her watertight enough to survive a return to Germany for repairs. The ship sailed to Lloyd Werft, Bremerhaven under her own power and after repairs was back on service on 17 August 1989.

The Maksim Gorkiy hit news again in December of the same year, when she was used to host an international summit between George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev at Malta. On 26 July 1991, while on a cruise to Svalbard a television exploded on board, injuring three people. In December of the same year the ship was re-registered to Nassau, Bahamas as Maxim Gorkiy. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union she was transferred to the fleet of Sovcomflot, who continued chartering her to Phoenix Reisen.

Sometime between 2004 and 2006 the Maxim Gorkiy finally received the green/white livery of Phoenix Reisen. Her long-term charter to Phoenix Reisen ended on 30 November 2008, and Phoenix Reisen did not extend the charter due to the high fuel expenses of operating a steam turbine powered ship. The future of the ship remained uncertain for some time due to the new requirements of the SOLAS regulations coming into effect in 2010, meeting of which would have required large-scale reconstruction for the Maxim Gorkiy. On 20 August 2008 it was reported that the re-formed Orient Lines had purchased the ship. Orient Lines planned to rename the ship Marco Polo II and refit her to comply with the SOLAS 2010 requirements. She was due to enter service with her new owners on 15 April 2009. However, on 19 November 2008 Orient Lines made a statement that the relaunch of their cruise operations has been delayed indefinitely due to the 2008 economic crisis.

Following the termination of her charter to Phoenix Reisen in November 2008, the Maxim Gorkiy was laid up at Eleusis, Greece. In December 2008 plans were made to convert her into a static hotel ship to be permanently moored at Hamburg. In early January 2009 the ship was reportedly sold to the scrapyard at Alang, India for € 4.2 million. Despite the sale for scrap the ship remained laid up in Greece and attempts were made to purchase her for hotel ship use. In February 2009 the attempt to save the ship were reported to have failed, and she was at Alang on 26 February 2009. The ship was broken up in less than seven months after being beached.