Position Summary:
The Director of Port Services APAC has overall operational and financial responsibility for all Guest Port Services and Port Operations in the assigned regions: Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Asia Pacific. This position leads the team of Port Operation Managers and Account manager(s) to manage all port agencies and the ground handlers in the APAC region, ensuring that all port and ship services for the Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises brands are achieved in a timely and professional manner according to established department and corporate standards. Overall responsible for creating and adhering to Port Operations and Guest Port Services financial budget and controlling negative financial exposure related to ship requests, abnormal operations, and/or stevedoring/port/security/ ground manning levels. Participates in the design and follows SOP’s. Assists and interacts with Regional VP’s / Managing Directors on projects of the strategic developments on Asia ports and itinerary and other duties assigned.
Job Responsibilities:
All duties and responsibilities apply to APAC region - Develop goals, strategies and optimum approaches for overall operations.
· Collaborate with Department senior management to craft department strategic goals and objectives for both areas of Operations.
· Manage Port Ops and GPS team to ensure the port readiness for call or turn operations and identify the development plan to ensure company standards and guests experience is properly achieved and exceeded.
· Leads port development and readiness requirements and vetting needs in Asia and work with Destination Development in order to support company’s strategic and sustainable growth.
· Oversees all Port related projects and acts as a liaison between various departments, including Deployment, Revenue Management, Legal, Safety & Environment, Logistics, Marine Operations, Hotel Operations, Destination Development, Marketing, Community and Government Relations, Risk Management and Accounting as applicable.
· Ensures team is developing turnaround programs and contingency planning in relevant ports. Ensures detailed operational plans and conference calls for turnaround ports are developed and take place in a timely basis.
· Has direct interaction with senior level shipboard management executive team in planning turnaround operations via conference calls held prior to the season with the Hotel Director, Chief Purser, Front Office Manager, IT/Data Systems Manager. Direct contact with shipboard management team throughout season regarding operational enhancements.
· Travels to turnaround locations to oversee pier and airport operations and to perform site inspections for planning purposes (approximately 40% travel). Orchestrates turns with ground handler, port agent, regulatory agencies, airport and port authority and shipboard management team.
· Monitors and evaluate turnaround operations through site inspections, Brand Quality Audits, shipboard reports and guests feedback. Reviews ratings information as it pertains to pier and airport experiences and determines any corrective action. Strive for continuous improvement in operations.
· Monitor and benchmarks against industry best practices for turn operations and identifies opportunities to fulfill corporate strategy. Travels to new locations to observe other cruise lines’ operations to and to identify and develop operational plans. If there is no other cruise line operating in a new port location, works with ground handler, port agent and other entities in setting up entire operation from the ground up.
· Leads the local team and cooperates with HQ GPS, Global Security, Public Health, hotel teams to develop the customized and optimized check in/boarding process for the Asia market.
· Engages in a timely manner the GPS central team in Miami for any changes in regulations and process in the area assigned, ensuring the team in Miami participates and vets the design of any new procedures for GPS impacting the guest embarkation, debarkation and general GPS issues.
· Reviews the berthing assignment report with local Port Ops team and Deployment team regularly, and leads to solve any conflicts, congestion or works out best solution to optimize the itinerary and product. Interacts with Vetting Manager and Marine Operations to properly vet berthing and terminal assignments.
· Maintains a good-standing relationship with port authorities and relevant government entities and negotiates with entities and vendors to yield best cost, clearance and operational terms for all RCCL Brands.
· Identifies and enacts process improvements, process automation, and the creation of a departmental knowledge base and learnings to improve operational efficiencies and controls. Consults and reviews proposed changes with the GPS team in Miami.
· Follows department procedures to ensure effective coordination and communication between customers and/or vendors and the internal teams.
· Represents and speaks for the best interest of the company and the industry on behalf of Royal Caribbean Group as required. Interacts with authorities from different countries like Japan, Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and others. This position requires a high degree of cultural awareness and interpersonal skills to adapt communication styles of different countries within the APAC region.
Financial Responsibilities:
· Leads the Port Ops and GPS Team and contributes to the creation and management of the annual operating Port Operations budget.
· Leads the Port Ops and GPS Team to explore and identify the operational improvements and financial opportunities and achieve identified savings targets.
· Reviews operational forecast vs actual cost with team and the Support and Planning and Finance HQ teams. Researches and investigates any cost variances and take corrective actions if necessary.
· Collaborates to assess and analyze all port operations capital appropriation requests (CARs) and prepares recommendations for executive management review.
Emergency and Crisis Management:
· Responds to crisis involving ships operations, including but not limited to: hurricanes, OPP outbreaks, legal situations and significant guest satisfaction issues. Participate in planning and execution of crisis response plans as part of the response team. Often involves interacting and briefing senior executives and participating in SitRep calls.
· During emergency or abnormal operational situations, takes a lead role in actively finding solutions to issues and challenges, ensuring consideration of the financial impact and the total effect on all operational groups involved. Maintains thorough communications to all groups involved.
· Works with various government agencies and other partners during emergency or abnormal operational situations to create appropriate contingency plans, ensuring the communication and execution of those plans in order to guarantee an efficient and smooth operation.
· Supports the development of shoreside port Safety Plans including fire control plans, damage control plans, evacuation plans, hurricane plans, ship and shore search & rescue plans and the overall business continuity plan.
· Assists with any problems or emergencies that may arise. This includes problems with the vessel, the terminals, vendors, etc.
Job Requirements:
· Minimum of 10 years of experience in operations and/or logistics, ideally with passenger flows and goods. Ideally but not limited to an international cruise line or worldwide tour operator (preferably in port operations, marine operations or shore excursion/tour department), in a mid-to-large corporate environment.
· Bachelor's Degree from four-year college or university; MBA preferred, and/or five years related experience in business, engineering and/or operations.
· Proven management experience of minimum 5 years, to direct subordinate managers and staff.
· Strong experience in finance and operations is imperative.
· Must have in-depth knowledge of Immigration and Customs laws.
· Must possess exceptional interpersonal and communication skills to communicate with all levels of employees, management, vendors and government authorities.
· Ability to read and comprehend instructions, correspondence and memos, and ability to effectively present information in one-on-one and small group situations to guests, clients, and other employees of the organization.
· Requires working knowledge of personal computers within a Windows environment, including e-mail, Microsoft Word and Excel, and related printers and equipment.
· Ability to read, analyze, and interpret common scientific and technical journals, financial reports, and legal documents.
· Ability to respond to common inquiries or complaints from customers, regulatory agencies, or members of the business community.
· Ability to effectively present information to top management, public groups, and/or boards of directors.
· Ability to calculate figures and amounts such as discounts, interest, commissions, proportions, percentages, area, circumference, and volume.
· Ability to apply concepts of basic algebra and geometry.
· Ability to apply mathematical operations to such tasks as frequency distribution, determination of test reliability and validity, analysis of variance, correlation techniques, sampling theory, and factor analysis.
· Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions.
· Ability to interpret an extensive variety of technical instructions in mathematical or diagram form and deal with several abstract and concrete variables.
