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.
