Ocean Majesty (opvangschip, Velsen-Noord)
The Ocean Majesty is a former cruise ship moored at the VOB-kade in Velsen-Noord and used by the COA as a floating reception site for up to 300 asylum seekers. It arrived in August 2023, replacing the much larger Silja Europa that had housed around 1,000 people at the same quay until mid-2023. The municipality of Velsen and the COA agreed the arrangement would run until the end of 2026; no major incidents at the vessel have been reported.
Occupancy
300
people (Aug 2025)
Per night
€80
per person (benchmark)
Annual
€8.8m
estimated
Background
The site sits at VOB-kade, Velsen-Noord, Noord-Holland. It is run by the COA (Centraal Orgaan opvang asielzoekers), the Dutch government’s asylum-reception agency. For what the azc / noodopvang categories mean and how Dutch reception spending breaks down, open the cost panel on the interactive map with the Netherlands selected in Settings.
In the news
Aug 2023
New smaller reception ship arrives in Velsen-Noord
The COA brought in the Ocean Majesty for up to 300 asylum seekers, replacing the larger Silja Europa under an agreement running to the end of 2026.
NH Nieuws · source
Aug 2023
Ship for temporary reception of 300 refugees en route to Velsen-Noord
COA confirmed the vessel and the terms of the temporary mooring at the VOB-kade.
COA · source
Compiled from public Dutch news reports (each item links to its source). Where a municipality runs more than one reception location, attribution to this specific address reflects the cited report and may be approximate — always check the linked source.
Timeline
Aug 2023
Ocean Majesty arrives in Velsen-Noord
The smaller reception ship replaced the Silja Europa at the VOB-kade, with capacity for 300 people.
Cost
Dutch asylum reception is funded by central government through the COA. At an illustrative benchmark of about €80 per person per night for a regular centre, the 300 people recorded here on 13 August 2025 imply roughly €8.8m per year. This is an order-of-magnitude figure for context only, not a site-specific invoice — emergency reception typically runs around three times the cost of a regular centre.
Sources
Gemeente Velsen / InfoMigrants · 2023-2025. View source
Occupancy is the COA register snapshot of 13 August 2025 and may have changed since. Coordinates were geocoded from the published street address via the official PDOK Locatieserver.