Concordia captain ‘treated worse than Bin Laden’

Posted on 14 January, 2013 by Spacejunkie2

Concordia captain ‘treated worse than Bin Laden’

Just days before the first anniversary of the Costa Concordia tragedy the ship’s captain, who is currently awaiting trial on charges of

multiple manslaughter and abandoning ship, has hit out at the public reaction to his actions.

Back on January 13th 2012, 32 people were killed when the liner carrying them hit rocks off the coast of the island of Giglio on the Tuscan coast.

It was alleged that the collision had been as a result of 52-year-old captain Francesco Schettino’s insistence on carrying out a sail by salute.

In the aftermath of the incident, a series of reports also suggested Mr Schettino had fled his post and escaped on a lifeboat, despite the fact that many of the ship’s passengers remained stuck onboard.

Regardless of this damning evidence, the cruise ship captain remains bitter about the public reaction to the incident.

Speaking in an extraordinary interview with La Stampa newspaper, he claimed: “I’ve been treated worse than Bin Laden.”

“I reject the image that has been attached to myself, it ridicules not only 30 years of my work but my experience worldwide,” he added.

Mr Schettino is due to stand trial later this year.

Carnival Corporation’s fourth quarter profits fall by 55%

Posted on 21 December, 2012 by Spacejunkie2

Carnival Corporation’s fourth quarter profits fall by 55%

By Melanie Hall

Carnival Corporation’s profits fell by 23% in 2012, with a 55% drop in the fourth quarter, following its “most challenging” year after the Costa Concordia tragedy in January.

The company revealed its full year and fourth quarter earnings today, which showed that its net profits in the 12 months to November 30 were $1.47 billion, down from $1.9 billion at the same time last year.

Its fourth quarter profits are down from $217 million in 2011 to $98 million in 2012, a drop of 55%, although Carnival Corporation’s chairman and chief executive Micky Arison said that the quarter’s earnings “were better than anticipated”.

Commenting on the full year’s earnings, Arison said: “As a result of the Costa Concordia tragedy in January, the past year has been the most challenging in our company’s history.

“However, through the significant efforts of our brand management teams, we were able to maintain full year 2012 net revenue yields – excluding Costa – in line with the prior year.”

Arison added that unfavourable changes in fuel prices and currency exchange rates reduced earnings by $300 million compared to the prior year.

During the fourth quarter, Carnival reached an agreement on the construction of two new cruise ships – a 2,660-passenger ship for its Holland America Line brand to be delivered in 2015 and a 4,000-passenger vessel for its Carnival Cruise Lines brand to be delivered in 2016. Both are the largest ships ever built for those brands.

Carnival has forecast a decline of 2-3% in its revenue yields in the first quarter of 2013 but has predicted it will improve during the remainder of next year for the North American brands and Costa, although it said its European brands continue to be hit by a “deteriorating economic environment”.

“We remain well positioned for a recovery in 2013 and beyond evidenced by the demonstrated resilience of our global portfolio of cruise brands as consumers continue to capitalize on cruising’s superior value versus land-based vacation alternatives,” said Arison.

“We continue to focus on a measured growth strategy through the introduction of two to three new ships per year and the development of emerging cruise markets in Asia.”