MV Hondius - Crisis Communication Plan
In the summer of 2026 I put together a crisis comms plan for Oceanwide Expeditions following the hantavirus outbreak on their vessel the MV Hondius which resulted in three deaths and a number of others being infected. The one thing we were trying to achieve with the plan was to get the ship and the company back to being the first choice for polar exploration. We looked at the scale of the crisis, mapped out our internal and external stakeholders and then worked out how PR, legal, HR and marketing would all go about the response. The plan was structured in three phases: the first 72 hours, the phase of continued stability and then the long term reputation repair. The three key strategies were to keep all our stakeholders fully informed, to build relationships with the right people (journalists, health experts, a passenger influencer), and to run a campaign to rebuild trust. We also drafted a series of sample key messages which were all based on the 'Own It, Explain It, Promise It' model.
The crisis was still unfolding while I wrote the plan, so I worked from live news coverage, public health updates, and the company’s own statements. The hardest part was balancing transparency with legal caution. Every statement had to show genuine care for the people affected without assigning blame or speculating about causes. Through this project, I strengthened my skills in crisis communications, stakeholder analysis, media relations strategy, message development, and cross-functional thinking.