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Grand opening of world's most progressive
maritime center of its kind celebrated with ceremony honoring company's chairman
and its founder, Micky Arison and his father Ted
Representing a 75-million-euro investment, new facility features industry's most
advanced simulators and training equipment to provide rigorous annual training
to over 6,500 bridge and engineering officers from company's 10 global cruise
line brands
Located outside Amsterdam, center is home to expanded and more than
two-times-larger CSMART Academy, doubling current training capacity and building
on legacy started at company's world-renown maritime training, professional
development and research facility.
Carnival Corporation & plc. the world's
largest leisure travel company, today announced the official opening of the
Arison Maritime Center, its world-class facility dedicated to providing rigorous
safety training for its bridge and engineering officers responsible for the
navigation and operation of the world's largest fleet of cruise ships.
Carnival Corporation & plc Chairman Micky Arison, along with his wife Madeleine,
officially opened the company's Arison Maritime Center today in Almere,
Netherlands, with a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by top
executives and local and national government and business leaders. Located near
Amsterdam, the Center for Simulator Maritime Training Academy (CSMART), the
centerpiece of the campus featuring the maritime industry's most advanced
simulator technology, provides progressive...
The new 75-million-euro facility in Almere, Netherlands, just outside Amsterdam,
was celebrated with a ceremony honoring longtime board chairman Micky Arison and
his father Ted, founder of the company, that was attended by the company's
global leaders, board members and government, community and business officials.
The centerpiece of the seven-acre campus is a new and more than two-times-larger
Center for Simulator Maritime Training Academy (CSMART), Carnival Corporation's
world-renown maritime training, professional development and research facility
that began operations in Almere in 2009. The center will feature bridge and
engine room simulators that utilize the most innovative technology and training
solutions in the maritime industry, modeled closely after the technology and
practices used in the airline and other industries.
"The opening of the new Arison Maritime Center and expansion of our CSMART
Academy is a major milestone in our company's history and an exciting day for
all of us at Carnival Corporation," said David Christie, senior vice president
of maritime quality assurance for Carnival Corporation. "The safety and comfort
of our guests and crew is our most important priority, and the Arison Maritime
Center underscores the depth of our commitment to making sure our ships sail as
safely as possible. Our bridge and engineering officers are the heart and soul
of our ship operations, and this center takes to a new level our dedication to
providing
 our officers with the maritime industry's most comprehensive and
progressive safety training."
Added Christie: "With 10 cruise line brands sailing 11 million guests a year to
over 700 ports around the world, we take tremendous pride in having a team of
highly trained, skilled and prepared officers operating the bridges and engine
rooms on our ships. With the new Arison Maritime Center and CSMART Academy
officially up and running, our tradition of excellence and continuous
improvement in safety training is stronger than ever."
At 110,000 square feet, the environmentally friendly facility is more than
double the size of the company's current facility, allowing Carnival Corporation
to provide annual training to over 6,500 officers and engineers across the
company's 10 cruise line brands. It will also include an advanced medical center
and an 11-story, 176-room hotel for Carnival Corporation trainees.
World-Class Training at CSMART Academy
The CSMART Academy will feature four full-mission bridge simulators and four
full-mission engine room simulators designed to provide a wide array of
programming and simulated exercises that can recreate an extensive range of
maritime scenarios. The new five-story facility will also include 24 part-task
engine simulators, eight debriefing rooms and eight part-task bridge simulators
-- all designed to provide participants access to the visual elements of 60
ports around the world including Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Copenhagen,
Stockholm, Singapore and Glacier Bay, Alaska.
 The state-of-the-art technology provides high-quality maritime training services
that reflect real-world scenarios and sea conditions including ship traffic,
aircraft interference, weather events and wildlife circumvention. Modeled after
the newly designed bridge of the Koningsdam from the company's Holland America
Line, CSMART Academy's full-mission bridge simulators provide an authentic
shipboard experience for participants to build skills in navigating complex
control and automation systems.
Like the bridge simulators, the full-mission engine room simulators are based on
actual ship layouts and systems, scaled to size and representing a diesel
electric engine room comprising six diesel generators and two propulsion motors,
along with ancillary and auxiliary equipment. The simulators allow trainees to
navigate their way around the actual engine room of a ship to operate and repair
equipment, with the genuine sights, sounds and even temperatures found in a
cruise ship's engine room.
The new facility and team of highly experienced CSMART Academy instructors have
developed a curriculum that sets the industry standard for safety and maritime
training and keeps pace with advances in ship technology, fostering critical
thinking, problem solving, decision-making and confidence.
The CSMART Academy has played a leading role in developing and refining a
function- and team-based bridge and engine room management system on a large
scale. This approach is based on roles rather than ranks, with officers
operating as a coordinated team, with each officer assigned a role for specific
functions. It also includes encouraging team members of all ranks and seniority
to speak up to challenge or question a decision.
In keeping with the faculty team's leadership, the Arison Maritime Center will
provide the additional space needed to implement the industry's first
Proficiency Training and Assessment (PTA) program. The week-long course is based
on a specially developed curriculum that annually refreshes and then evaluates
each of the corporation's maritime officers.
With its scale, technology and equipment, and innovative training approach, the
new facility will be the most progressive maritime center of its kind in the
world for training and continually improving industry-wide safety and
excellence.
Honoring Ongoing Legacy of the Arison Family
Following a speech by Carnival Corporation's CEO Arnold Donald at today's
ceremony, the center was dedicated to honor the legacy of the Arisons, the first
family of cruising. Micky Arison has been chairman of the board of directors for
Carnival Corporation & plc since 1990. He began his career at Carnival Cruise
Line in 1972 and was appointed chairman of Carnival Corporation in 1990, a title
he still holds today. Considered one of the most respected leaders and experts
in the cruise industry, Arison's vision and leadership played the central role
in building Carnival Corporation into the world's largest cruise company and
helping grow cruising from a niche holiday to one of the most popular vacation
experiences available.
His late father, Ted Arison, founded the company in 1972 with one ship with the
firm belief that cruising is one of the best ways to enjoy a vacation and a
commitment to making cruising available to people from all walks of life.
Referred to by The New York Times as "the godfather of the modern cruise
industry," he is credited with building cruise operations that give travelers
the opportunity to enjoy a cruise vacation with prices that range from
affordable to upscale. Today, the company has 101 ships, over 120,000 employees
and welcomes 11 million guests annually. About one of every two travelers who go
on a cruise vacation do so on a Carnival Corporation ship.
Investing in Training through an Investment in the Netherlands
The official grand opening of the center was commemorated today with a ceremony,
tours and a celebration at the facility attended by Carnival Corporation's
global leadership team and board members as well as government officials,
including Maarten Camps, secretary general of the ministry of economic affairs
for the Netherlands, and Franc Weerwind, Mayor of Almere.
Carnival Corporation worked with Dutch property group AMVEST Vastgoed B.V. to
purchase the seven-acre plot of land in Almere Poort called the DUIN, a planned
business and residential community in Almere, one of Europe's newest and fastest
growing cities. The center's campus and buildings were designed by Dutch
architect Paul de Ruiter, and the Dutch construction company Dura Vermeer built
the CSMART Academy and hotel. The design and construction were built to meet
rigorous environmental and sustainability standards that will achieve "LEED
Gold" certification, and the campus will fit esthetically into the Duin
environment, per AMVEST'S original plan for the development.
Carnival Corporation and the Arison Maritime Center, including the CSMART
Academy, produce a significant economic impact in Almere and the greater
Amsterdam region. It is estimated that Carnival Corporation and the Arison
Maritime Center will generate an annual estimated economic impact of up to 17.5
million euros for the local community and region. |
