In latest blog posting on the Internet,Adam Goldstein, President and CEO of Royal Caribbean International, says thatsafety is a journey rather than a destination and he called the Costa Concordiaaccident a defining moment for the cruise industry.
“The Costa Concordia accident is a definingmoment in the history of the modern cruise industry. We will need the resultsof the authorities’ investigations to truly understand and respond to all ofthe implications. But we do not need to wait for anyone or anything to underscorethe preeminent role of safety in the daily life of every cruise ship and of theindustry as a whole.
By coincidence, half of our Captains andmost of our Hotel Directors arrived in South Florida for our annual FleetOperations leadership conference over the weekend. This gave our ChairmanRichard Fain and me a timely opportunity to underscore both our excellent 42year safety record and more importantly to emphasize the imperative of keepingour record intact into the future.
There are many aspects of safety. Althoughwe are proud of our people, processes and technology in all areas of safety, wemust review them all again, especially recruiting, training, guest musteringand evacuation. We have considered and prepared for very many scenarios. Now weneed to broaden the range of scenarios even further.
In the upcoming weeks we will communicateby text and video about many of the key elements of safety. Many readers whoknow us well will not be surprised by our focus on and commitment tosafety. Those who have less experiencewith us should learn some interesting and compelling facts about how we prepareour ships and crew for safe operation every day. For example, the rigorous preparation andongoing training that every Captain in the Royal Caribbean International fleetmust undergo.
Safety is a journey rather than adestination. We need to operate safely now yet constantly improve our safety.We need to hunt for lessons learned in every minor incident or accident. Weneed to apply those lessons learned across the fleet ASAP. This is a neverending cycle. As our Chairman Richard Fain says, there is no such thing asperfect safety but there is such a thing as perfect dedication to safety. Westrive to be true to that concept.
The process of continuous improvement insafety is evident in our fleet. The newer ships are beneficiaries of decades ofnaval architectural progress. They arealso beneficiaries of the development of the requirements that ships must meetunder the auspices of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Where wehave clearly succeeded with new approaches, such as the e-mustering procedureson Oasis-class ships, we are in the process of retrofitting the fleet wherepossible.
Global, regional, national and localauthorities are going to review with increased intensity all regulationsrelated to cruise ship safety. We enjoy strong and positive relationships withthe IMO, U.S. Coast Guard, Flag states, Port states and innumerable otherauthorities around the globe. We look forward to working with them to make thesafety record of modern cruising even stronger than it already is.
I often thank the men and women of RoyalCaribbean International for the great job they do delivering Gold AnchorService and the “Wow” to over three million guests per year. Implicit in thatappreciation is recognition of their dedication to the safety of our guests andtheir fellow crew. It seems appropriate now to make my appreciation explicit aswell as to remind all of my colleagues shipboard and shoreside that ourvigilance must encompass every drill, every training, every voyage plan, everyanalysis of incidents/accidents and every day of ship operations.
My thoughts and prayers are with those whohave been directly affected by the tragic accident on Costa Concordia.”
