More bad news came this week as crew members of the MS Vesteralen were informed that their ship would be removed from service when it returns to port in Bergen on 6 November. This is the latest vessel to be mothballed by Norway’s famous coastal shipping company Hurtigruten as it struggles to control spiralling financial problems.

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The cruise ship which has 318 passengers on board drifted into an iceberg in Antarctica overnight Saturday but there were no injuries. According to the Norwegian Coastal Voyage Group, Hurtigruten, engine failure caused the accident. The 318 passengers are due to fly home after a planned arrival in Ushuaia on January 2.

According to Norwegian media reports, passengers said that there had been some ‘nervousness’ on board. “Our impression was not that the crew was in control,” passenger Erling Hene was quoted as saying by Oslo daily VG.

According to the ships owners, Fram had not hit the iceberg “particularly hard” and had only sustained superficial damage to the vessel.

MS Fram is the latest addition to the Norwegian Coastal Voyage Group’s fleet and is specially adapted for Polar cruises.