Cruise ship to accommodate 1,000 asylum seekers in Amsterdam

MS Galaxy arriving at the port of Amsterdam.Photo: ANP/HH/Kim Van Dam

A cruise liner hired by the Dutch government to accommodate 1,000 asylum seekers has arrived in the west harbor area of ​​Amsterdam.

Designed to carry up to 2,800 tourists, MS Galaxy will stay in port between the Coen Tunnel and the river cruiser’s mooring points for at least six months.

The move is primarily aimed at easing overcrowding at Groningen’s Tel Appel reception center, where hundreds of asylum seekers have to sleep outdoors in grassy areas, and the charity Médicins Sans Frontières has helped ease the situation. It is described as “inhumane”.

The ship will also accommodate some refugees and children who have been granted permanent residence but are awaiting permanent residence, with up to 10% of the space occupied by those who have claimed asylum from so-called safe countries. increase.

Accommodation agency COA said educational and daycare facilities will be provided onboard. The number of beds she can increase to 1,500 and the duration she can extend by six months if necessary. In return, the government agreed to fund her 2,500 additional flexible housing units in the city.

The first residents will move in in early October. On Monday, asylum seekers began boarding another cruise ship, Silja Europa, which is moored at Felsennoord near IJmuiden.