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Costa Group inaugurates Carnival Maritime in Hamburg

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A zero-incident goal - Jens Lassen, left, leads Carnival Maritime, reporting to Costa Group ceo Michael Thamm, right
The Costa Group has inaugurated its Carnival Maritime unit in Hamburg, where the company implements digital support, surveillance and planning for all technical and nautical aspects of the 25 vessels of Costa Crociere, Costa Asia and AIDA Cruises in real time.

With fully integrated, large fleet teams, Carnival Maritime improves the communication between ship and shore significantly. Among other things, the marine service unit is responsible for shipbuilding, maintenance and refurbishment. Additionally, it takes care of training, route planning, technical procurement, medical services, support of the nautical and technical staff on board and auditing of the vessels with regard to safety, danger prevention and staff.

Carnival Maritime employs 150 specialists.

The heart of the unit is the 24/7 fleet operation centre where data are displayed on numerous monitors. In the event of safety concerns, the nautical officers on duty support the ships in risk and crisis management and in optimizing route planning.

Fourteen officers with professional experience run the safety centre in shifts. If required, further departments of Carnival Maritime are consulted, such as security, route planning or medical.

'It is our goal to pursue a zero-incident policy. Benchmark is the aviation industry,' said Jens Lassen, evp of Carnival Maritime.

There are environmental benefits, too.

Using digital control, fuel and energy consumption can be optimized, along with water and waste management. Technical surveillance and analysis combined with best practices offer numerous approaches to develop innovative environmental and efficiency projects in areas like the potable water system, wastewater treatment and waste management.

Carnival Maritime chose Hamburg because the city plays a key role within the maritime sector and offers a well-developed infrastructure and a large talent pool of highly skilled professionals, Lassen said.

'For us, an international crew with an excellent technical expertise and a corporate culture where the individual takes responsibility and an innovative approach to his or her duties, are important elements of a safety culture which we want to achieve group-wide within the company,' Lassen added.

Another important factor in Hamburg's selection was the close proximity to partners in the marine industry and universities.