Poon Tip flies to MS Explorer’s watery grave

Poon Tip is reportedly among his company’s senior directors who flew to the site of the sinking on Friday, after learning the ship was in distress.

The Canadian-registered Explorer, owned by Poon Tip, sank at 7 pm Friday, some 17 hours after it hit an ice floe in the Antarctic. The 154 passengers and crew “evacuated the ship in a calm and orderly fashion” and were picked up by a Norwegian ship shortly after the distress call was sent out just after midnight on Friday, Marie Anne McRae, spokesperson for GAP Adventures in Toronto, told Sunday Newsday yesterday.

“The Explorer, built in Finland in 1969 by the world-famous exploring team Lindblad brothers specifically for ecological missions, was acquired by Poon Tip in 2004. Just on October 21 this year, it came off dry dock after passing a rigid safety inspection process initiated by insurers Lloyds of London. It was fully certified and this was its first tour since the safety certification.”

Known around the world as the “Little Red Ship,” the Explorer has been featured in some 250 books, and is considered one of the world’s most famous vessels. The Explorer has sailed around the world, and routinely travels from the Arctic to the Antarctic taking tourists on ecological tours. It was one of the key attractions of Poon Tip’s GAP Adventures, a company with more than 20 offices around the world and Canadian $100 million in revenues annually. (Poon Tip’s firm updated Newsday’s figures of $35 million carried in yesterday’s story).

McRae told Sunday Newsday that all of the ship’s passengers and crew are in good spirits, and are currently in Punta Arenas, Chile, from where some flew home yesterday, and others are expected to do so today. She said passengers were being given the option of continuing their vacation on land in South America. All expenses were being met by GAP Adventures, McRae confirmed.

The spokeswoman could not put a value to the Explorer, saying that information is not available at this time.

She expressed sadness that the Little Red Ship was no more. But, she added,” we’d rather lose the ship than any lives.” She could not say whether there would be any efforts to salvage the world-famous vessel.

The ship’s crew came in for commendation for the way they handled the evacuation of the vessel after the emergency was declared.

Poon Tip, 37, is hailed as one of the Top 40 Canadians under 40, and started his company in 1991 with $800. Today, it is one of the Top ten adventure companies in the world, with offices around the globe, from Canada to Australia.

It primarily offers ecological tours, and on this trip Explorer passengers were being given the opportunity to observe whales and penguins in their natural habitat.

Besides receiving an award as one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40, Poon Tip has also been honoured as one of Canada’s top five entrepreneurs by Canadian Business as well as Canada’s 100 leaders of tomorrow. Profit magazine named him in their 20th anniversary issue cover story as one of Canada’s Top Ten Entrepreneurs of the last 20 years. Bruce also received the Global Traders Leadership award from the government for his ground breaking ideas in exporting services.

Recently Poon Tip was asked by the World Bank and UNESCO to represent a team to visit the Peoples Republic Of China to lecture on Sustainable Development. In January of 2002 he was the only Canadian operator invited to speak at the United Nations Launch of the Year Of Eco-Tourism in New York. Poon Tip defied the odds once again last year by winning Canada’s prestigious Entrepreneur of the Year, as well as the National Citation for Entrepreneurship.

GAP’s additional awards inclu-de having two trips chosen among the TOP 25 Adventures in the World by National Geographic Adventure magazine, the Ethics in Action Award, the Global Traders Award and the Clean Air Com-mute Award for five straight years.

Although a consummate business man, Poon Tip has a conscience and he has founded his entire enterprise on the concept of sustainability and established travel practices that show consideration of natural surroundings and local cultures. By limiting the travel group size to 12 people, by taking local transportation and staying in small, locally owned hotels and guesthouses, GAP travellers are able to minimise their footprint in foreign communities and get maximum exposure to local culture.

In a recent interview, Poon Tip shared how he managed to purchase the Explorer, the world’s first purpose-built expedition cruise ship. In March of 2004 Bruce went on an expedition cruise through the Antarctic and fell in love with the experience. He figured he need to buy his own expedition cruise ship and started looking for suitable vessels. In April of 2004 he found the “Explorer”, a historic expedition ship with a capacity of 112 passengers and a crew of 60 people. The ship had been docked in Genoa, Italy, for many months due to the financial problems of its owners. Just another two months later, but after many complications, GAP took possession of the ship. Only another four months later, after extensive restorations, the Explorer went on its inaugural journey and offered expedition cruises to such unique places as Antarctica, the Amazon, Spitz-bergen, and Greenland.