Lars Ljoen will take over the position of Executive Vice President and Managing Director at Carnival Maritime, the operations group overseeing Costa and AIDA ships from an office in Hamburg.
He will be responsible for supervising the departments Fleet Governance, Cruise Preparation & Projects, Cruise Execution as well as Continuous Improvement and the Fleet Operations Center, said Carnival.
Ljoen began his career on supply vessels and shuttle tankers in the North Sea offshore industry. In 1997, he joined Royal Caribbean Cruises where he worked on the cruise vessels and ashore in Miami, managing fleet-wide navigation issues, maritime training and deck operations.
During his eight years of employment there, he became Director of Marine Operations.
In 2005, Ljoen joined Ceres Marine Terminals (NYK Ports) in Miami as Vice President of Business Development. Almost ten years later he headed up the development of business strategies for cruise services, roll-on/roll-off business and general cargo for the North American port activities of NYK Line.
In 2015 Ljoen joined Carnival Maritime, leading the Cruise Preparation & Projects department as Senior Vice President. In this position he was responsible for port operations, dry dockings, deck and engine human resources, innovations and technical purchasing.
As Executive Vice President, Ljoen will directly report to Michael Thamm, CEO of the Costa Group. He takes over his new position from Jens Lassen, until now Executive Vice President and Managing Director of Carnival Maritime, who will continue to assist Ljoen in an advisory capacity.
“I am happy to welcome Lars in our management team. With his extensive experiences in marine operations and his passionate leadership style, Lars will strengthen our performance as a Center of Excellence for the fleet,” Thamm commented.
“I am very excited about this new opportunity, as I feel it allows me to shape the future of cruising. My fantastic team and I will put our best efforts into reaching the ambitious goals of Carnival Maritime: Having the highest efficiency, lowest energy consumption and lowest repair and maintenance costs in the industry,” Ljoen added.
