By
Rebecca Gibson |
Carnival Cruise Lines (CCL) has appointed four external maritime and transportation industry experts, as well as three internal members of staff, to its new Safety and Reliability Review Board.
Following his retirement from the US Navy on 1 August after a 34-year career as a surface warfare officer, Rear Admiral Mark Buzby will join the board to share his fleet-level operational expertise.
Buzby will be joined by Rear Admiral Joseph Campbell, who worked as a US Navy engineering duty officer for more than 32 years and commanded Norfolk Naval Shipyard for two separate periods from 2003 to 2006 and from 2012 to 2013.
International aviations expert Ray Valeika and Dr John Lauber – who previously served as senior vice president and chief product safety officer for Airbus SAS in Toulouse, as well as the vice president of safety and technical affairs for Airbus North America – will also join the board.
CCL’s internal appointments include Martin Landtman, senior vice president of marine operations, Richard O’Hanlon, vice president of nautical and safety operations, and Mark Jackson, vice president of technical operations.
The Safety and Reliability Review Board was established as the result of a comprehensive operational review, initiated after the Carnival Triumph fire this February. As part of Carnival’s comprehensive fleetwide technical enhancement programme, the board will provide an independent third-party perspective to drive continuous improvement across the line’s fleet. It will focus on improving the line’s policies and practices for marine and occupational safety, reliability and maintenance, marine regulatory compliance and quality control.
“In April, Carnival Cruise Lines announced a major initiative encompassing technical, safety and reliability enhancements,” said Gerry Cahill, president and CEO of CCL. “That initiative encompasses a US$300 million investment to significantly enhance emergency power capabilities, introduce new fire safety technologies and improve the level of operating redundancies across our entire 24-ship fleet, as well as the formation of a Safety and Reliability Review Board.”
The line’s parent company Carnival has also conducted a corporate-wide operational review of all ten of its brands following the incident and is to implement the latest technology on its 101 ships. The overall programme of enhancements across the corporation’s fleet, including CCL ships, is expected to cost between £400 and £500 million.