MIAMI, March 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Carnival
Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK), the world's
largest leisure travel company, announced today that it is
expanding the commercial maritime industry's first and most
technologically advanced Fleet Operations Centers with the opening
of a new facility in Seattle. The
company's first Fleet Operations Center is located in Hamburg, Germany, with both centers providing
real-time support for its 102-ship fleet, the largest in the cruise
industry. A third center will be added to the global network later
this year when construction is scheduled to be complete on a
facility in Miami at the company's
headquarters.
The new Fleet Operations Centers utilize a state-of-the-art
tracking and data-analysis platform that enables real-time
information sharing between Carnival Corporation ships and
specialized onshore teams designed to support fleet operations. The
proprietary system significantly improves communication from ship
to shore, providing new capabilities for enhancing the safe passage
of ships at sea while improving operational efficiencies and
supporting overall environmental initiatives at Carnival
Corporation.
The advanced system, which initially captures thousands of data
points and provides real-time analytics for 28 distinct parameters
for navigational safety from each ship, focuses on the following
strategic areas to optimize safety, efficiency and overall fleet
performance:
- Nautical Operations & Safety – including the capability to
see real-time radar visuals, stability conditions, automation, the
Safety Management and Command System, and webcams from each ship,
along with GPS location, routing, ship conditions and weather
data.
- Procedural Optimization & Efficiency – including speeds,
navigational data and engine conditions.
- Sustainability – including fuel and energy usage, emissions
levels, water and waste management.
"Our teams have done a remarkable job in developing the most
sophisticated and capable system in the cruise and commercial
maritime industry for taking safety management to a completely new
level, overcoming the hurdles faced with ships sailing in the
middle of oceans around the world," said Vice Admiral Bill Burke (ret.), chief maritime officer for
Carnival Corporation. "With our new operations centers running our
proprietary technology, both our ship and shoreside teams have
greater-than-ever ability to ensure we are operating at safety
levels that far exceed industry standards. We can now also access
and analyze data that can significantly increase the operational
efficiency of our ships, which is another major benefit."
Utilizing cloud-based technology from Microsoft, this new system
– dubbed "Neptune" – has been in use at the Carnival Maritime Fleet
Operations Center (FOC) in Hamburg,
Germany, as announced in October
2015. Carnival Corporation has been piloting the system with
its European cruise line brands in Hamburg and Southampton, England. Based on the system's
success, the company will continue rolling out the system this year
to further increase the monitoring capability of its ships sailing
in the U.S. and Caribbean, through
its Fleet Operation Centers in Miami and Seattle.
The new Carnival Corporation FOCs will provide an additional
layer of support, where the shore-based analytics system will
automatically generate alerts to help provide support in addressing
any potential safety or weather-related issues across the fleet.
Moving forward, the system's ability to process and analyze "big
data" in real time will enable Carnival Corporation and its brands
to do predictive analysis with the potential to further improve
safety and operations.
The implementation of the advanced support system is aligned
with the company's Arison Maritime Center, home of its Center for
Simulator Maritime Training Academy, or CSMART Academy, the
world-class maritime training, professional development and
research facility in Almere, located just outside Amsterdam in the
Netherlands, which currently provides some 6,500 deck and
technical officers from the company's 10 global brands with
extensive annual training programs.
"Our commitment to raising the bar on maritime safety has
already generated several major enhancements, including our
world-class CSMART Academy training facility where our deck and
technical officers receive the industry's most progressive training
using state-of-the-art simulators," said Burke. "Now we are taking
it to the next level with our new Neptune support system and
cutting-edge Fleet Operations Centers that enable us to support
safety using real-time data in ways that have never been done in
the cruising and commercial maritime industries. Together, our
safety training programs and innovative technological capabilities
like Neptune add even more strength to our comprehensive approach
to safety and operational excellence as the number one priority for
Carnival Corporation."
About Carnival Corporation & plc
Carnival
Corporation & plc is the largest leisure travel company in the
world, with a portfolio of 10 cruise brands in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia comprised of Carnival Cruise Line,
Fathom, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Seabourn, AIDA
Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard, P&O Cruises (Australia) and P&O Cruises (UK).
Together, these brands operate 102 ships visiting over 700 ports
around the world and totaling 226,000 lower berths with 19 new
ships scheduled to be delivered between 2017 and 2022.
Carnival Corporation & plc also operates Holland America
Princess Alaska Tours, the leading tour companies in Alaska and the Canadian Yukon. Traded on both
the New York and London Stock
Exchanges, Carnival Corporation & plc is the only group in the
world to be included in both the S&P500 and the FTSE 100
indices.
Additional information can be found on www.carnival.com,
www.fathom.org, www.hollandamerica.com, www.princess.com,
www.seabourn.com, www.aida.de, www.costacruise.com, www.cunard.com,
www.pocruises.com.au and www.pocruises.com.
Editors' Note:
A video of Carnival Corporation's Fleet Operations Center system is
available here.
To view the original version on PR Newswire,
visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/carnival-corporation-expands-global-fleet-operations-centers-a-first-in-commercial-maritime-industry-300422463.html
SOURCE Carnival Corporation & plc