改造嘉年華郵輪的CEO

On Southampton’s concrete docks under a sky heavy with drizzle, tourists — most of them middle aged — crane their necks at the horizon. In the slate-grey river beside them towers a cruise ship that will carry them to the Solent strait and the blue waters of the Caribbean beyond.

細雨濛濛，在南安普敦(Southampton)的混凝土碼頭上，遊客們（大多數已經上了年紀）伸長脖子，眺望着地平線。在他們身邊灰藍色的河面上，一艘巨大的郵輪停泊着，它將把他們帶到索倫特海峽(Solent Strait)，然後向蔚藍的加勒比海進發。

The age of the cruise crowd illustrates a problem that Arnold Donald of Carnival Cruises is grappling with 4,000 miles away in his office in sunny Miami, Florida. The chief executive of the world’s largest cruise company not only has to lead a business that carries 11m passengers on its ships every year. He also has to secure its profitable future against a strong, demographic challenge.

郵輪遊客的年齡表明了一個問題；在4000英里以外佛羅里達州邁阿密陽光燦爛的辦公室裏，嘉年華郵輪(Carnival Cruise)的阿諾德?唐納德(Arnold Donald)正在應對這一問題。世界最大郵輪公司的首席執行官不僅要領導一家每年搭載1100萬乘客的企業，還必須確保該公司在面臨艱鉅的人口結構挑戰的情況下確保未來盈利。

Many within the tourism industry are sceptical about whether cruise companies have a future with younger generations of travellers. Cruising, says one executive at Carnival speaking on condition of anonymity, is for “the newly-weds, the nearly-deads and no one in between”.

很多旅遊行業的人對於郵輪公司未來能否吸引年輕一代遊客持懷疑態度。嘉年華一名不願透露姓名的高管表示，乘坐郵輪遊玩的“不是新婚夫婦就是垂暮老者”，沒有中間年齡段的人士。

“When I first got the call [to become chief executive] I almost said no,” says Mr Donald in a relaxed drawl. “It took two or three days before I called back.”

“剛接到（讓我當首席執行官的）電話時，我差點拒絕，”唐納德用輕鬆的、拉長語調的南方口音說道，“兩三天後我纔回了電話。”

That was not only because of the problem of enticing millennials on to cruise ships. The multiple risks involved with transporting so many people every year mean running Carnival is a difficult task.

這不僅是因爲吸引千禧一代乘坐郵輪的問題。每年搭載這麼多遊客的這項業務帶有多種風險，這意味着經營嘉年華是一項艱鉅任務。

The company, which owns brands including P&O Cruises, Holland America and Costa, was handed a $40m penalty in a US federal court in December after pleading guilty to dumping polluting waste in the sea off the coast of England.

該公司擁有的品牌包括P&O郵輪(P&O Cruises)、荷美郵輪(Holland America)和歌詩達郵輪(Costa)。去年12月，在嘉年華承認在距離英格蘭海岸線不遠的海域傾倒污染垃圾後，美國一家聯邦法院對該公司開出4000萬美元的罰單。

But Mr Donald, who sat on Carnival’s board for more than a decade, is used to adversity. First came the sinking of the Costa Concordia cruise ship in 2012 — 33 people were killed. In 2014 a power outage hit the Carnival Triumph, which became known as the “poop cruise” because its toilets stopped working.

但在嘉年華董事會坐了10多年的唐納德對逆境已經司空見慣了。首先是2012年歌詩達“協和號”(Costa Concordia)郵輪沉沒，導致33人喪生。2014年，嘉年華“勝利號”(Carnival Triumph)遭遇停電，這艘郵輪後來被稱爲“屎輪”，因爲船上的衛生間不再運轉。

“The media were pretty brutal to us,” he says. After taking over as chief executive from Micky Arison, who is now chairman, Mr Donald instigated reviews of culture and operations in response to the Costa Concordia disaster: “Just to right that ship and float it out cost millions,” he says.

“媒體對我們相當無情，”他表示。在從現擔任嘉年華董事長的米基?阿里森(Micky Arison)接手該公司後，唐納德在迴應歌詩達“協和號”事故時推動了企業文化和運作評估：“單單把那艘船扶正、並使它浮起來，就花費了數以百萬美元計的鉅額資金，”他表示。

Three years into the job, Mr Donald is credited with turning around Carnival’s reputation and its market value. Net profits rose to $2.8bn in 2016, up from $1.8bn the year before. The 62-year-old secured a joint venture in China to gain access to a growing tourism market in east Asia. Bookings have increased steadily.

上任3年後的今天，唐納德被歸功爲扭轉了嘉年華的名譽和市值。2016年淨利潤增長至28億美元，高於上一年的18億美元。62歲的唐納德在中國成立了一家合資企業，從而進入了不斷增長的東亞旅遊市場。郵輪艙房預定量穩步增長。

The US-based company is in a comfortable position because it dominates the industry and takes more than half of all cruisers on holiday, but it may have run out of space to grow. Carnival is under pressure to retire its older ships and refresh its image, as the company enters a technological race with rivals to attract younger cruisers. One person familiar with the company says Mr Donald has pushed this agenda — sometimes to the chagrin of colleagues on the board.

這家總部位於美國的公司目前處於一個舒適的境地，因爲它主導着整個郵輪行業，一半的郵輪度假乘客選擇了該公司，但它可能已經沒有進一步的增長空間了。隨着該公司開始與對手靠拼技術來吸引年輕遊客，嘉年華目前承受着老舊郵輪退役和重塑形象的壓力。一名熟悉該公司的知情人士表示，唐納德在推動這一議程——有時令董事會同僚不快。

Mr Donald insists that it is important for Carnival to modernise: “We built this business on a premise that works really well, which was to organically grow a brand and acquire other brands.

唐納德堅持認爲，嘉年華進行現代化改進非常重要：“我們以行之有效的模式打造了這家企業，即讓一個品牌實現有機增長，並收購其他品牌。

“It stopped working because the world changed?.?.?.?with the BP oil spill, then Lehman Brothers, then the Arab spring, which caused people to not to want to travel.”

“後來這種模式不再有效，因爲世界變了……英國石油(BP)原油泄漏、還有雷曼兄弟(Lehman Brothers)倒閉、之後是阿拉伯之春，這些都使得人們不想旅行。”

Mr Donald describes his humble origins at the back end of the civil rights movement in the late 1960s, growing up in a “very poor” family from the ninth ward of New Orleans. As an aspirational child, he secured a place to study engineering at Washington University and joined Monsanto, the global agribusiness, after graduating.

唐納德稱，他小時候家境卑微，上世紀60年代末民權運動後期在新奧爾良第九區一個“非常貧困的”家庭長大。作爲一個有抱負的孩子，他入學華盛頓大學(Washington University)學習工程學，並在畢業後進入全球農業綜合企業孟山都(Monsanto)。

After 23 years at Monsanto and a brief stint as chief executive of Merisant, a manufacturer of artificial sweeteners, Mr Donald was ready to retire before he accepted the Carnival job — which paid him $9.4m in 2015. His package includes stock and other benefits.

在孟山都工作23年、並短暫擔任甜味劑製造商美利生(Merisant)首席執行官之後，他曾準備退休，結果卻接受了嘉年華的工作（2015年他的薪酬爲940萬美元）。他的薪酬待遇包括股票和其他福利。

He emits a sense of ambition that others in the industry say has propelled the company forward. However, according to an independent analyst who did not want to be named, investors had wondered whether decision making would remain with Mr Arison, a member of the founding family.

他散發出雄心壯志的氣場，業內人士稱，這推動着嘉年華向前發展。然而，據一名不願具名的獨立分析師稱，投資者在揣測，決策權是否仍在創始家族成員阿里森手中。

“We thought maybe Micky wants to get out of the limelight so Arnold will take over and just be Micky’s guy,” the analyst says.

“當初我們認爲米基想告別聚光燈，於是讓阿諾德接手，只是當米基的馬仔，”這名分析師表示。

A former colleague from Monsanto adds that they were “surprised” when they heard that Mr Donald had joined Carnival. “He’s a very ambitious fellow, but what does he know about running cruise liners?”

唐納德在孟山都的一名前同事補充稱，當他們聽說唐納德加入嘉年華時，他們“感到意外”。“他非常有雄心，但他了解如何經營郵輪公司嗎？”

Although Carnival — and the industry — have recovered from the Costa Concordia disaster, Mr Donald fears a change in global attitudes towards terror could undermine the business.

儘管嘉年華——乃至整個行業——已經從歌詩達“協和號”事故中恢復元氣，但唐納德擔心全球對恐怖主義態度的變化可能有損該行業。

“Whether the world acts out of fear, whether the world overreacts, that’s what keeps me awake [at night],” he says.

“世界會不會因爲出於恐懼採取行動，世界會不會反應過度，這些問題讓我夜不能寐，”他表示。

For now, Mr Donald is focused on taking advantage of scale, which he calls “the yin and yang of being big”. Since 2013 he has attempted to cut costs, but he balks at the idea that Carnival’s 10 brands may come together in Miami. “No, no, no, we’re not centralising. I don’t believe in centralising,” he says.

就目前而言，唐納德正聚焦於利用規模效益，他稱之爲“做大的陰與陽”。從2013年起他便試着削減成本，但他拒絕了把嘉年華旗下10個品牌都集中在邁阿密進行管理的想法。“不不不，我們不搞集中化。我不相信集中化，”他表示。

Carnival announced a joint venture with the China State Shipbuilding Corporation and China Investment Corporation in 2014. Three new luxury ships are due to join its fleet of four in the country over the next two years.

2014年，嘉年華宣佈與中國船舶工業集團公司(China State Shipbuilding Corporation)和中國投資公司(China Investment Corporation)成立合資企業。未來兩年，預計將有3艘豪華郵輪加入嘉年華在中國的船隊（現有4艘郵輪）。

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week, he unveiled a wearable device for cruise passengers, equipping them with a personal digital concierge that recommends activities. But rivals are expanding and innovating and some question whether so many cruise ship berths can be filled by future generations.

今年初在拉斯維加斯舉行的消費電子展(CES)上，唐納德公佈了一款面向郵輪乘客的可佩戴設備，讓他們有一個可以推薦各種活動的個人數字禮賓。但競爭對手也在擴張和創新，同時有人質疑：那麼多郵輪鋪位能否被未來幾代人填滿？

“We’re huge,” Mr Donald says. “If people cruise then we’re all good.”

“我們是龐大的，”唐納德稱，“只要人們乘郵輪遊玩，那我們就會日子好過。”