US river cruise specialist American Queen Voyages is reported to have ceased operations.

The company runs four traditional paddle steamers and an expedition ship.

The line’s cruises are sold in the UK by a number of companies including Light Blue Travel.

Travel Weekly in the US reported that American Queen Voyages had made “the difficult decision to shut down and all future cruises have been cancelled”.

Passengers should expect to be fully refunded for cancelled cruises.

American Queen Voyages reportedly said in a email to staff: “The timing of this notice is necessitated by both the unforeseen business circumstances and an inability to obtain sufficient capital at a commercially reasonable rate to continue operations.”