Costa faces new PR battle in Italy after verdict

In this July 12, 2012 file photo tourists relax on rocks in front of the Costa Concordia wreckage on the Giglio Island, Italy. The captain of the shipwrecked Costa Concordia cruise ship was convicted Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2015 of multiple charges of manslaughter and sentenced to 16 years in jail, Italian court officials said. Francesco Schettino was convicted of manslaughter in the deaths of 32 passengers and crew in the Jan. 13, 2012 capsizing as well as of causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship while many of the 4,200 passengers and crew were still on the ship. The verdict and sentencing brought an end to a trial that has been running since July 2013. Prosecutors had insisted Schettino was a "reckless idiot" and asked the court to sentence him to 26 years and three months in prison. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, file) In this July 12, 2012 file photo tourists relax on rocks in front of the Costa Concordia wreckage on the Giglio Island, Italy. The captain of the shipwrecked Costa Concordia cruise ship was convicted Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2015 of multiple charges of manslaughter and sentenced to 16 years in jail, Italian court officials said. Francesco Schettino was convicted of manslaughter in the deaths of 32 passengers and crew in the Jan. 13, 2012 capsizing as well as of causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship while many of the 4,200 passengers and crew were still on the ship. The verdict and sentencing brought an end to a trial that has been running since July 2013. Prosecutors had insisted Schettino was a "reckless idiot" and asked the court to sentence him to 26 years and three months in prison. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, file)

By Associated Press February 13, 2015 1 min read

MILAN (AP) – The CEO of Costa Crociere is facing a public relations battle over the company’s future in Italy after former captain Francesco Schettino was handed a 16-year sentence for the deaths of 32 people in the 2012 shipwreck of the Costa Concordia.

Costa’s German CEO, Michael Thamm, met Friday with Italy’s transport minister to offer assurances that the Italian cruise company owned by U.S. parent Carnival has no plans to move the headquarters out of Italy.

Thamm was summoned to Rome after Costa announced last month the transfer of four departments with 160 people from its Genoa headquarters to Hamburg, Germany. Thamm said afterward that “Italy remains a market with huge potential.”

In Genoa, union members protested the announced transfers, saying they will weaken the company’s Italian identity.