Top Headlines

RCCL more than doubles quarterly dividend, appoints lead director

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 12 September 2013 12 September 2013

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCCL), the world’s second largest cruise shipping group, says its board of directors had named its first lead director, approved a plan to replace staggered terms for directors with annual election, and more than doubled the quarterly dividend on its common shares.

The moves, which were approved unanimously at the board’s 11 September meeting, reflect the board’s continuing efforts to enhance its corporate governance structure and drive long-term value creation for its shareholders, the company said in a statement.

The quarterly cash dividend to was increased to $0.25 per common share, payable 8 October to shareholders of record 24 September. The previous level was $0.12 per common share.

“Dividends are an increasingly important component of total shareholder return. This dividend increase was made possible by our profitability improvement program and our improving financial position. It reflects our confidence in our ability to grow our investment returns into the future, given strengthening results and modest capacity growth,” RCCL chairman and ceo Richard Fain said in the statement.

The board elected William L. Kimsey as its lead director. Mr. Kimsey, who is the former chief executive officer of Ernst & Young Global, Ltd., has served on the board since 2003 and is Chairman of the company’s Audit Committee. Kimsey also serves on the board of directors of Accenture PLC and Western Digital Corporation.

As lead director, he will be the liaison between the board’s non-management members and Fain. He will preside at meetings of the non-management directors, will advise and approve the content and scheduling of board meetings and discussions, and will be available for discussion with major shareholders.

Said Fain: “I’m delighted that Bill Kimsey has agreed to become our lead director. He’s been a consistent source of wise counsel, and his voice will be even more important as we move forward.”

Said Kimsey: “I am pleased by the steps our board has taken to further enhance our corporate governance, and I look forward to working with my fellow directors and management to improve shareholder value.”

The board of directors also adopted changes to its bylaws as a result of which candidates elected to the board will serve one-year terms, and will stand for re-election annually thereafter, effective with the slate of directors to be elected at the company’s 2014 annual meeting. This implements a proposal adopted by shareholders at the company’s May 2013 annual meeting.

Today’s actions demonstrate the company’s commitment to continuous improvement in its corporate governance practices following the 2011 termination of the Shareholders’ Agreement between Royal Caribbean’s two largest shareholders, A. Wilhelmsen & Co and Cruise Associates. Under that agreement, the two groups exercised effective control of the company, with key decisions – including the selection of directors, the choice of top management, and the approval of major capital expenditures – made at the discretion of the two shareholders.

“The board’s decisions affirm our focus on robust corporate governance. These steps are a sensible progression forward from our earlier governance structure,” said Tom Pritzker, chairman of the company’s nominating and corporate governance committee.

Brazilian cruise market suffers hard as economy slows down

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 09 September 2013 09 September 2013

The Brazilian cruise market is suffering hard in tandem with slowdown of the country’s economy that until recently fired on all cylinders on raw materials boom.

The number of cruise vessels expected to operate from Brazilian ports will fall to 11 in the 2013/14 season, a sharp reduction from 15 in 2012/13, 17 ships in 2011/12 and 20 vessels in the 2010/11 season, says CLIA Abremar, the cruise industry organisation in South America’s largest country.

The latest reduction in deployments came last month, when Iberocruceros said its Grand Mistral would not operate from Brazilian ports in the coming Austral summer season; instead the vessel would be transferred to the Costa Crociere group, another member of the Carnival Corp & plc group.

In August, Finance Minister Guido Mantega reduced 2013 growth targets to 2.5% from an already reduced 3.0%, and for 2014 down to 4.0% from 4.5%. The country’s central bank raised its key interest rate to 9% from 8.5%, also last month, to fight inflation that currently runs at 6.1% per annum. The real lost a fight of its value against the dollar from the beginning of the year to the end of August as the country’s raw materials export led economy cooled, the BBC reports.

Most of the cruises from Brazilian ports are between three and nine nights in duration and there will be 27 departures fewer in the coming season than a year before. By contrast, the Argentine market is expected to grow by a quarter in the coming season and MSC Poesia and Grand Celebreation will only operate from Buenos Aires during their forthcoming South America seasons, CLIA Abremar said.

Carnival commits over $180 million to install exhaust gas cleaning systems on 32 ships

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 05 September 2013 05 September 2013

Carnival Corporation & plc, the world’s largest cruise company, today announced it has received the support of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Coast Guard and Transport Canada to implement a significant advancement in environmental technology designed to reduce air emissions from cruise ships and large marine vessels.

As part of today’s announcement, Carnival has committed over $180 million for exhaust gas cleaning technology on 32 ships. These include vessels from Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises and Cunard that sail regularly within the North American Emission Control Area (ECA).

"This is a significant accomplishment as well as an important milestone for our company," said Carnival Corporation & plc CEO Arnold Donald. "Working together with the EPA, U.S. Coast Guard and Transport Canada, we have developed a breakthrough solution for cleaner air that will set a new course in environmental protection for years to come."

Carnival has been a partner in the development of this technology and will take the lead in further refining both design and installation aspects on ships with a variety of engine configurations between now and mid-2016. This new generation of so-called “scrubber technology” combines the removal of sulfur with the substantial reduction of particulate matter and black carbon. Once the exhaust gas cleaning technology is installed and fully operational on the various Carnival subsidiary ships, they will exceed ECA standards. The International Maritime Organization’s MARPOL Annex VI places a cap on sulfur within ECAs at 1.0%, which took effect in North America in 2012. In 2015, the limit will be 0.1%.

Carnival’s design combines two established technologies, which have been successfully used in power plants, factories and vehicles to clean – or scrub – the exhaust from high-sulfur fuel. For the first time this combination is being developed to accommodate restricted spaces on existing ships.

In addition to exceeding stricter air emission standards – a significant public health advancement – Carnival’s technology will help the company mitigate escalating fuel costs. The agreement in principle from the EPA and Coast Guard would enable an exemption for Carnival to use the fuel source that makes the most sense from an environmental and economic perspective. The agreement in principle is a requirement for the flag states of each Carnival subsidiary to grant permission for implementation.

The implementation also produces an immediate significant public health benefit, as all of the ships that will have the scrubber technology installed will use either low-sulfur marine gas oil or shore power when in ports in the United States and Canada. Ships that use shore power turn off diesel engines and connect to local electric utility power.

As a next step, Carnival will be requesting permits from flag states to allow for the trial of the exhaust gas cleaning technology to proceed.

Looking ahead, Carnival plans to explore the possibility of expanding the installation of its scrubber technology beyond the initial 32 ships.

RCCL group to separate three brands to separate companies in the UK

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 04 September 2013 04 September 2013

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (RCCL), the world's second largest cruise shipping group, has decided that RCL Cruises Ltd, its operating company in the UK, is to create three individual businesses for each of its brands in the the country as they have each now grown to a size that warrants “increased focus and investment," Travel Weekly reports in a newsletter emailed to Cruise Business.

The news comes on the same day as it emerged that Royal Caribbean International, the group's contemporary market brand, appears to replace Independence of the Seas in Southampton by the new Anthem of the Seas upon delivery from Meyer Werft in the spring of 2015.

The new structure, which will take effect from January 1, 2014, will see current associate vice president & general manager Jo Rzmowska become managing director for Celebrity Cruises. A recruitment process is already underway both internally and externally for separate managing directors for the Royal Caribbean and Azamara Club Cruises brands, Travel Weekly said.

Each individual managing director will also get his or her own commercial, marketing and sales teams, as well as separate agent trainers and trade marketing budgets.

Dominic Paul, who remains as vice president and managing director of Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said the proposed restructure was an important milestone in the history of the global RCL Cruises Ltd business:

“The only other market that we have this kind of focus is North America. This is the first time we have given any other market such attention. We have seen that when a market gets to a certain size of importance, this is the structure that works best to grow.

“The UK is the second-largest market globally and this move is a recognition of the growth achieved so far and to best position each cruise line for future development and growth.”

The three RCL brands collectively in the UK and Ireland have seen 8% growth in the last five years versus the overall cruise market in the UK and Ireland which has grown at 3% in the same period.

Asked if it meant the company, which is the second largest cruise operator in the world, would deploy more than the current five ships to the UK as a result of the restructure, Paul said: “This underlines our commitment to the UK market. We are investing in the brands and see the future potential for more growth. We hope that this will mean we can bring new ships into this market," he said.

The UK is an important location for the RCCL group also from the ship management point of view. In its 2012 annual report, RCCL said it operates 13 of its total fleet of some 40 vessels under companies which have elected to be subject to the United Kingdom tonnage tax regime. "The requirements for a company to qualify for the U.K. tonnage tax regime include being subject to United Kingdom corporate income tax, operating qualifying ships, which are strategically and commercially managed in the United Kingdom, and fulfilling a seafarer training requirement. Failure to meet any of these requirements could cause us to lose the benefit of the tonnage tax regime which will have a material effect on our results of operations," RCCL said.

Polar Cruise Enterprises talks with G Adventures, ship could also be used as training vessel

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 04 September 2013 04 September 2013

Polar Cruise Enterprises, the Norwegian company that plans to build an ice strengthened cruise vessel for operations mainly in Arctic waters, says it is in talks with Gap Adventures, the Canadian expedition cruise company, to employ the projected ship and that it also intends to have it used as a training vessel.

The company calls its project Ursus Maritimus; the projected vessel will have a length of 137m and passenger capacity of 240 persons, while crew of will number 70-plus.

“There are several tour operators within this passenger cruise niche that would be interested in adding a vessel like this to the fleet they are operating, However, we are in close contact with Canadian G Adventures for an eventual chartering arrangement,” Polar Cruise Enterprises said in a statement.

“We also have plans to get passengers from Asia in the future, especially from Japan and China. The Helsinki- Vantaa airport is a transportation hub for Asia, and most likely in the future Finnair will open a Helsinki to Tromso route. So we will not need to add more than Tromso - Longyearbyen to have the perfect channel to Asia,” the company stated.

The ship is also intended to be used also for scientific exploring. There will be built laboratory facilities as well as facilities for diving activities, such as a portable compression chamber.

Manning and technical management of the ship would be taken care by the Satakunta University of Applied Sciences in Finland. The vessel is planned to be a training ship as well.

It is easy to arrange many trainee cabins and lecture rooms on board this kind of cruise ship. “The ship will be navigated by Finnish officers. In addition to the Finnish crew there will be Filipinos as deck hands and stewardesses. They are found to be very suitable for this type of cruising service,” the company said.

“The vessel will be built with an icebreaker bow and will be built to the highest polar ice class. In principle the vessel will not have any operational limits. It will be able to operate in all seasons in all oceans of the world. The main objective, however will be to operate the vessel in the polar seas: in the North: Svalbard, Greenland waters, Arctic Canada, the Northeast and the Northwest Passage and the waters around the Antarctica,” the company said, adding that no such cruise vessel had been built to date.

The projected vessel is designed by Aker Arctic in Helsinki in cooperation with Capt. Endresen, one of the initiators of the project. The first drawings were made in 2008. Minor changes were made in the spring of 2012. The plan is to build the vessel at STX Finland’s Rauma shipyard and the ship would fly the Finnish flag, with Rauma as home port.