Royal Caribbean conference held in Florida, addressed accident
January 25, 2012
Half of Royal Caribbean’s ship captains were in Florida last week for the company‘s annual Fleet Operations leadership conference, according to USA Today.
The international Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Royal Caribbean, one of the world’s largest cruise lines, is calling this month’s Costa Concordia accident “a defining moment in the history of the modern cruise industry.”
He said that the Florida conference gave them “an opportunity to underscore both our excellent 42-year safety record and more importantly to emphasize the imperative of keeping our record intact into the future.”
“We will need the results of the authorities’ investigations to truly understand and respond to all of the implications,” the CEO wrote on his blog. “But we do not need to wait for anyone or anything to underscore the preeminent role of safety in the daily life of every cruise ship and of the industry as a whole.
“We must review [our safety processes] again, especially recruiting, training, guest mustering, and evacuation. We have considered and prepared for very many scenarios. Now we need to broaden the range of scenarios even further.”
The Royal Caribbean CEO is the first top executive of a major line, other than Costa, to speak publicly about the Jan. 13 accident, which resulted in the deaths of at least 15 passengers.