Passat Kreuzfahrten, the German operator of the 1975 built 16,500 gross ton Delfin, has ceased trading, the company says on its website.

The ship terminated its last cruise for the company in early September and Passat is now working to restructure its business.

The company and Cruise & Maritime Voyages in the UK signed a cooperation agreement late last year, whereby the British companu took over certain marketing functions of Passat. The German company also became a cooperation partner of Kristina Cruises, the Finnish operator,after it had been forced to sell its only ship at the turn of the year.

This is the second small German cruise operator to go out of business within a few months. In the summer, Ambient Kreuzfahrten ceased trading after it had failed to reach targeted level of bookings for cruises on board the 17,000 gross ton Azores it had chartered from Portuscale Cruises, the Lisbon based company.

Peter Deilmann Kreuzfahrten has also reported weaker than anticipated sales,but the company continues to operate the 1996 built 22,500 gross ton upper end of the market ship Deutschland as before.