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Adventurists: staff and travelers head to shore at Brown Bluff, Antarctica

Credit: Esther Kokmeijer/courtesy Hurtigruten AS wegian.com: enter desired port of call and end destination.

Voila! Hurtigruten’s Web design teams have done the rest, so travelers can chose a slice of any non-stop tour. All Hurtigruten coastal vessels are in continuous operation, night and day.

“On the business side, getting organizational development to work hand-in-hand with business development has been key. There’s a strong focus on people, performance and lead- ership, and this year we’re continuing to integrate these values and standards in our daily operation.”

Seagoing Firsts

With its core aim of becoming the world leader in explora- tion travel, this expedition cruise operator would seem to have to shout louder than the formidable marketing machines of the very large cruise ship operators with over 10-times the staff and passenger counts. For Hurtigruten, it’s a strong but niche brand versus the new trend aboard ocean giants to be “? rst at sea” – to entertain in myriad new ways that include virtual parachute descents and indoor snow. Hurtigruten’s aces (apart from glacial descents and real snow) are a recruitment base largely accustomed to working by or on the sea and a pedigree for moving worldly travelers, cargo and locals that arcs back to 1893. Staff, then and now, have had to speak one Scandina- vian language plus English or German.

To ? ght for its market share, Hurtigruten has of? ces in Lon- don, Hamburg, Paris and Seattle. The German sales staffs have been central to the company attaining a turnover of about 3.5 billion kroner. Hurtigruten’s U.S. Northwest of? ce is also “We established a full HR organization that encompassed key to the drive to recruit and manage Arctic and Antarctic ex- the seaborne side to strengthen it by working heavily on de- peditions with the explorer ship M/S Fram (soon to be joined veloping an organizational culture that would generate strong by the M/S Spitzbergen). For these, there are positions open, business results. We involved the whole organization in devel- as we write, for an expedition coordinator and leader. oping a new set of values that we’ve trained all people glob- “We hope to ? nd this person internally, already in one of our ally on,” says Finnanger. ? eet teams, we don’t know for sure,” says Joern Henriksen, product manager, Explorer. Friendly on the phone, Henrik-

The Right Stuff sen – who was working closely with HR to ? ll the Explorer

With 12 ships and the M/S Spitzbergen on the way, 2,300 Leader role – tells us the right person would have to be “able employees and new cruise destinations that include icy Spitz- to ? sh … a real leader. All hiring is geared toward that.” The bergen-Iceland-Canada and ritzy Amsterdam-Lisbon, creating expedition coordinator might still be found in Seattle or Cana- a consistent brand experience while “becoming a world expe- da: unlike other Hurtigruten job ads, this one’s in English. The dition (cruise) leader,” are Hurtigruten’s stated goal. “It’s quite lucky soul would likely be aboard the M/S Fram, the Lofoten, a tall order,” she admits, but since British investors via local the Midnatsol (Midnight Sun) or a new vessel set to arrive in entity Silk Bidco AS bought the company up in 2014, the new the summer of 2017.

Norwegian managerial team has made visible improvements. “We need someone who is ? exible given the variety of

In a nod to its Norwegian administrative director, ordering a tasks,” Henriksen says. “An open, extravert who communi- cruise, for one, now looks as easy as booking a ? ight on Nor- cates easily with guests, is structured and can maintain opera- www.maritimeprofessional.com Maritime Professional 27| | 18-33 Q1 MP2016.indd 27 2/29/2016 10:45:41 AM