The new hotel ship for asylum seekers arrived this afternoon in the working port of Huizen. The ship will house a large group of asylum seekers in the former fishing village for a maximum of six months.
It is gray and rainy weather when the MS Fortuna sails into the harbor from the fog on the Gooimeer. Normally the Fortuna is used as a cruise ship on the Danube, today the ship arrives directly from Passau in Germany. The last regular passengers did not come ashore until Sunday 9 October.
The asylum seekers are not staying there yet, some preparations still need to be made, which will take a few more days. For example, the internet still needs to be provided.
Earlier this year there was already a cruise ship in the port of Muiden. At that time there was room for 170 people on board, from countries such as Syria, Eritrea and Turkey. Ukrainians were not among them. It is not yet clear which nationalities will stay on board this time. The asylum seekers will come on board on Tuesday 25 October.
local residents
Local residents and entrepreneurs were skeptical about the arrival of the first boat in the spring, but afterwards they indicated that the inconvenience was not too bad.
On Tuesday, entrepreneurs and local residents will have the opportunity to take a look on board for themselves. As with the previous ship, a sounding board group has also been set up that will meet regularly to try to involve all parties involved as well as possible. The ship will remain there for a maximum of six months, subject to interim evaluations.