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A race against time, a challenge to the rules of shipbuilding. The metamorphosis of the Carnival Destiny undertaken in the San Marco Arsenal is an absolute first in terms of workload, available time, and the huge number of workers and technicians who worked 24 hours a day, 7 days a week inside the immense 101,353 dwt hull in Monfalcone which was first launched back in 1995.

3,500 men demolished the interior of the cruise ship to then rebuild it. In the end the Destiny blossomed into the magnificently modern Sunshine and with this new name set sail from Venice on May 6th 2013 for her maiden cruise. More than 1700 people were hosted aboard the Louis Olympya moored right beside the pier where they worked on the most important drydocking ever made in Italy. Portions of the upper decks were completely gutted to make way for prefabricated “sections”, the largest of which was manufactured in the neighboring Monfalcone shipyard in Trieste, weighed roughly 300 tons and arrived onsite by barge.

This was the largest refitting ever performed on a ship in the Carnival Cruise Lines’ fleet, and was initially announced around a year ago at a cost of over 155 million dollars, and which required a logistics organization nothing short of extraordinary. And it is here that Priano Marchelli comes into play with a team of enthusiastic and motivated professionals ready to roll up their sleeves and manage what was without doubt an enormous yet stimulating challenge.

The logistics team dealt head on with the considerable amount of shipments that the refitting demanded . Through close collaboration with the Carnival Cruise Line team and an extensive network of worldwide partners, as part of the Cruise & Marine Logistics Network (a Priano Marchelli and Blue Water Shipping joint venture), in just 2 months the team dealt with the movement of 540 containers (of which about half were rented in Europe), 150 air freight shipments and 1200 overland shipments.

High workload and tight schedules required thorough advance study and planning in order formulate the ideal logistics solution for this project. We defined strict technical objectives before commencing. Time, in contrast to newbuildings, in a project of this type and size, is definitely not an ally. Therefore, together with the Logistics Manager of Carnival Cruise Line we developed solutions that have since been proved to be very effective in terms of yield and cost.

Through our own networks and those of other suppliers with proven competence and reliability, we hired approximately 250 containers positioned directly at the warehouses of the CCL suppliers and loaded to specifically accommodate the work schedule in the shipyard. Once transported to the yard they were loaded and positioned on the Destiny in strategic areas to allow the multitude contractors immediate and convenient access to the tools and materials required for their part in this project.

The onsite warehouse was relieved of the discharge and management of these containers that were instead conveniently parked in a designated area made available by Fincantieri. This container park, along with the onsite warehouse, was managed by our team in the Trieste yard in close collaboration with and under the direction of Carnival’s management team.

Priano Marchelli invested heavily in this project and has since been amply rewarded by the excellent results obtained which went well beyond the most optimistic of expectations. We seized the opportunity to deepen our knowledge and expertise for these types of projects and to significantly improve the quality of the services we can offer to our clients. We take great pride is our team of young professionals who stuck to strict guidelines, met impossible deadlines and who managed this immense project with dedication and professionalism for Priano Marchelli and Carnival. Projects of this magnitude no doubt require extraordinary effort and dedication, but at the same time pay off enormously on a professional level. It is no secret that in such challenging situations what creates the difference is union and mutual understanding, and is what makes a company a very special team.