Seatrade Cruise News is part of the Informa Markets Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

Carnival Corp./Costa Group underscore clout in Italy's economy

65a028f5c742aceb849922b36f3007eb
Aboard AIDAperla in Genoa - from left, Costa Cruises president Neil Palomba, Carnival Corp. ceo Arnold Donald, AIDA Cruises president Felix Eicchorn, Costa Group ceo Michael Thamm
The Costa Group and parent Carnival Corp. & plc plan to hire approximately 4,500 Italian crew members for new and existing ships by 2022 as the companies underscored their importance to Italy upon AIDAperla's maiden call today at Genoa.

With more than 5,000 Italians now working at sea across the company, this nearly doubles the number of Italian crew at Carnival Corp. & plc.

The Costa Group—Costa Cruises, AIDA Cruises and Costa Asia—carried about 3m passengers in 2016, an increase of 13% from 2015. Thanks to the addition of AIDAperla, the company expects a further increase in 2017.

AIDAperla will sail in the Mediterranean, calling at Civitavecchia (Rome) and Livorno every week, with a total of 60 stopovers in Italy during 2017.

During the maiden visit to Genoa, the headquarters for Costa Cruises, company officials took the opportunity to stress Carnival Corp.'s contribution to Italy's economy.

Across its three brands the Costa Group fields about 76,000 berths on 27 vessels, the largest fleet of cruise ships flying the Italian flag.

'Carnival Corporation is one of the biggest foreign investors in Italy, which is a strategic country for our growth,' said Arnold Donald, president and ceo, Carnival Corp. He noted that since 1990, the company has built 68 ships in Italian yards for various brands and another 10 are currently on order or under construction, for a total investment of about €32bn.

Costa Group and Carnival Corp. together are one of the main employers of Italian seafarers and make a significant contribution to the Italian economy through partnerships with local suppliers. In 2016, spending by Carnival Corp. in Italy totaled about €2bn.

Given the need for new crew members to man newbuilds, Costa Group and Carnival Corp. are looking into working with one or more of Italy's nautical institutes. Already there's a successful partnership with the Italian Merchant Marine Academy, both for deck and engine staff and the hotel side, with the recent opening of the Academy for Italian Cruise Hospitality in Arenzano.

In 2016, Costa Group ships made 1,000 calls at Italian ports, equivalent to passenger traffic of approximately 2.6m, representing more than half of the nearly 4m passengers carried by Carnival Corp. ships in Italy. Added to this figure is the contribution the Costa Group makes to Italy's air transport system, moving approximately 250,000 passengers through Italian airports with its 'fly + cruise' package.