World's largest cruise shipowner - Carnival Corporation - announced additional actions to further strengthen its liquidity position in the event of an extended cruise suspension due to the ongoing COVID pandemic.
The Corporation's largest subsidiary - CCL-Carnival Cruise Line - became the world's first to pause passenger shipping operations (globally and fleetwide) due to the pandemic. CCL was followed (on March 13) by the rest of the Corporation's brands and other major cruise companies.
The action was taken before "self-isolation" was implemented in the USA and well before all the US-flagged airlines, restaurants, hotels and other forms of public transportation or gathering began limiting service or shutting down.
In April, Carnival Corporation completed a successful financing effort via a heavily oversubscribed offering of senior secured notes, senior convertible notes, and common shares, netting USD 6.4 billion of additional liquidity. In order to further strengthen its liquidity, Carnival Corporation is announcing a combination of furloughs, layoffs, reduced workweeks and salary reductions company-wide (including senior management). These moves will contribute hundreds of millions in cash conservation on an annualized basis.