A CRUISE ship has been impounded at Greenock following a swoop by Maritime and Coastguard Agency inspectors who found a raft of serious 'deficiencies' with the vessel.

The Ocean Atlantic ship — operated by Albatross Expeditions — arrived on Sunday but bosses have been forced to cancel a planned cruise around Scottish islands as a result of the safety alert.

Passengers were instructed to disembark from the 36-year-old ship and taxis were arranged to take them to hotels after it emerged that the vessel would not be allowed to leave Ocean Terminal.

It is understood that the ship has failed to comply with a catalogue of regulations, including ones pertaining to fire safety and pollution prevention.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) confirmed to the Telegraph that Ocean Atlantic had been 'detained' after the series of breaches was found by its inspectors on Sunday.

An MCA spokeswoman said: "The MCA's survey and inspection team inspected the vessel Ocean Atlantic on May 22 and the vessel has been detained.

"It was detained as a result of deficiencies covering a variety of international convention requirements, including but not limited to, maintenance of firefighting equipment, crew familiarisation with drills, loadline requirements, pollution prevention requirements, and Maritime Labour Convention requirements."

Ocean Atlantic berthed in Greenock on Sunday morning after arriving in Inverclyde from the French port of Le Havre and she had been due to depart for Scottish islands, including Gigha, that evening.

She remained tied up at Ocean Terminal yesterday following the MCA inspection.

A spokesman for Albatross Expeditions said: "With the deepest regret, we had to inform our guests that their upcoming cruise to the Scottish isles had to be cancelled, due to a number of overlapping reasons in connection to our vessel's extended lay-up during the corona crisis.

"Our vessel, the Ocean Atlantic has not been in operation for the past two years, meaning all staff had been discharged, while the ship had to be reconditioned before the start of the current season.

"This has been a considerably more difficult process than expected, and we have unfortunately not been able to document that all safety procedures have been put in place before our expected departure on Sunday."

The company spokesman added: "It goes without saying that the safety of our guests comes first, which is why the decision to cancel the cruise was not up for discussion — although we are painfully aware of how regrettable this notice found all our guests.

"We will of course refund all issued tickets and ensure our guests' homebound flights to their respective destinations.

"We expect the uninterrupted start of our next cruise, Through the North Atlantic, later this week."

The MCA said: "Inspectors will reinspect when invited to do so by the company, and when the vessel is ready to demonstrate compliance with the requirements."