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This agreement also included the option for a third vessel (the first two will cost $950 million). The fleet, which recently received the official title of United States Lines, will operate weekly cruis- es among the U.S. Hawaiian Islands. Complete with American crew, the for- mer MS Nieuw Amsterdam will lead off U.S. Lines with its December 9, 2000 maiden voyage. The company reached an agreement with Holland America on August 10, 1999, to acquire the vessel for $114.5 million — it will be trans- ferred to AMCV in the fall of 2000 and renamed MS Patriot. For a relatively lengthy span, U.S. cruise ship construction has been virtu- ally dead in the water with no new ships being built on U.S. soil. But then in 1995, AMCV brought forth a notion that had been envisioned by many shipyards for some time — the plans to operate large, modern U.S.-flag cruise ships. A driver in the revitalization of the U.S. flag is Calian, who has held his current position since AMCV's histori- cal idea was formulated that year. It was Calian and other AMCV execu- tives who led the way for this new revo- lution, accomplishing two components - with the dual goals of reinventing the U.S. passenger vessel industry, while building the company. When Calian arrived at AMCV five years ago, he was a welcome addition to the company, whose two brands had been receiving rather tepid returns both in revenue and sales. American Hawaii, which AMCV had purchased that same year was losing money, while the Mark Twain-esque Delta Queen Steamboat Company had new capacity require- ments. "We basically rolled up our sleeves and worked on and planned out what we needed to do to increase profits," Calian said. "It was a total management and employee effort to fix our business." Climbing the corporate ladder After graduating from Brown Univer- sity, Calian, who majored in chemistry, went to work on Wall Street before land- ing a job at The Equity Group, an invest- ment firm controlled by Sam Zell in Chicago. It was through Zell that Calian learned the ins and outs of corporate turnarounds and what it took to turn a business that was losing money — into one that was both strong and profitable. Soon after, Calian took on the position as president and CEO of packaging and plastics company, CFI Industries in Illi- nois. The history of events that led up to Calian's presence at AMCV, date back to the mid-1980's when Zell, now chair- man of AMCV, acquired Delta Queen, and eventually American Hawaii Cruis- January, 2000 es in 1995. ft was through these two business trans- actions that AMCV was established, and Calian — who had always held an interest in the hospitality industry — came onboard. "Hospitality and mar- itime are interesting indus- Purchased from Holland America'for $114.5 million, the former ms Nieuw Amsterdam will operate under AMCV's United States Lines as ms Patriot beginning December 9, 2000. Someone else who's right at home in the middle of the ocean. / / i Iff III • ft L. m \\ •wBHp •. V Mi \ V' < * ... c • • /. - We're from Australia, the "land down under" an isolated island in the middle of the ocean. In many ways, it's a lot like your ship. Only a heck of a lot bigger. Just like you, we Aussies rely on global satellite communications to keep in touch with the rest of the world. You could say our geography has thrown us in at the deep end in that regard. V I A INMARSAT So it's hardly surprising that Australia's Telstra is at the forefront of global satellite communications technology. We've got the experience, infra- structure and technical capability to meet your communications needs. Telstra Global Satellite. We're in the same boat. www.telstra.com.au/globalsatellite ""elstra • Registered trade mark and '"trade mark of Telstra Corporation Limited ACN 051 775 556 O Inmarsat and the Inmarsat logo are trade marks of Inmarsat, London, United Kingdom. TIN0077/B Circle 230 on Reader Service Card 27
