Mark Kempa, CFO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, said the company has committed to a goal of $300 million of savings over the next three years.
“Let me be loud and clear. We are laser focused on cost management,” Kempa said.
Two-thirds of the savings will come from ship operating costs, followed by marketing, selling and administrative cost savings, plus a new fuel purchasing program.
“To support this we created an internal transformation office with a team that reports directly to me,” Kempa said, speaking at the company’s investor day event held in New York on Monday. “They are laser focused on helping and measuring the performance on each initiative.
“Their sole responsibility is to question the status quo we do and build muscle of removing waste from the system.”
Kempa said cost-cutting measures would be shedding waste, improving business practices and reinvesting where it matters, all while delivering an excellent product and protecting the equity of all three NCLH brands.
“It 100 percent starts with changing the culture. When you change the culture you empower your teams to not only bring forward ideas but to make the change,” he explained.
“We’re not cutting to just cut. It would be easy for the short term but not beneficial for the long term.
“We continue to demonstrate we have the ability to change the culture and reduce our unit costs,” Kempa noted.
He will keep the momentum going with real-time reporting, and pivot and adjusting the plan when needed.
“Simply put: You can’t manage what you don’t measure,” said Kempa.
