66 INTERVIEW Managing a maritime emergency Rémi Bouysset explains to Rebecca Gibson how Oceanwide Expeditions responded when a deadly hantavirus broke out on its ship and highlights what lessons the industry can learn When Oceanwide Expeditions’ Hondius departed Ushuaia, Argentina, on 1 April 2026, guests were looking forward to the icy landscapes and wildlife encounters of an Antarctic cruise. But days later, they were confined to their cabins as a life-threatening strain of hantavirus began circulating onboard the ship. While international media outlets began speculating about the potential of a worldwide pandemic, Oceanwide Expeditions’ CEO Rémi Bouysset had one priority: to get the guests, crew and ship back home safely. “Initially, it seemed like an isolated medical incident but as soon as we confirmed it was hantavirus, we escalated our onboard response to our highest-level emergency protocols to contain the spread,” he says. “It was a life-or-death situation and we had to get it right, so our crisis team quickly sought advice from the World Health Organization (WHO), public health authorities and other medical and biosecurity experts.” Oceanwide Expeditions rapidly implemented a three-phase action plan. “Our first priority was to evacuate critically ill patients to Cape Verde for urgent care,” says Bouysset, noting that additional medical staff boarded the ship while it was in port to assist crew. “During the second phase, we focused on disembarking all remaining guests and two-thirds of the crew in the Canary Islands, so they could be screened, quarantined and safely repatriated. We had a significant number of guests and crew members of diverse nationalities onboard, so we coordinated with multiple governments, embassies, ports, maritime regulators and aviation partners to manage the complex logistics.” Once this stage was complete, a skeleton crew sailed the vessel to the Netherlands for extensive cleaning before it could resume operations in the Arctic with a new onboard team. “The crew was screened and quarantined, while a team of 13 biosecurity experts from EWS Group spent days systematically cleaning and sanitising the entire ship with specialist products,” says Bouysset. “The team disinfected everything from the decks to the curtains – Hondius is probably the cleanest vessel on Earth now. Following a full assessment on 30 May, the Dutch health authority confirmed Hondius could resume operations and we’ve been sailing safely ever since.” Throughout the incident, Oceanwide Expeditions was under immense worldwide scrutiny. “Our main concern was to regularly communicate with those onboard the ships, as well as their families and authorities, but we also had calls from over 600 journalists,” recalls Bouysset. “We wanted to avoid speculation and prevent panic, so we only shared verified information via daily press releases. It was a difficult time but we focused on protecting people, not our reputation.” Now Hondius has safely resumed sailing, Bouysset has been able to reflect on how Oceanwide Expeditions handled the incident. “It was a very rare situation, resulting in three people tragically losing their lives, several others being hospitalised and everyone else being quarantined,” he says. “I’m extremely proud of the way the entire company responded to the crisis – everyone remained empathetic and “I’m extremely proud of the way the entire company responded to the crisis”
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