Royal Caribbean has signed a three-year contract with U.S.-based Cintas to produce, provide and maintain employee uniforms across the fleet.
The move is intended to service its own expansion in the Chinese market and to benefit the Chinese economy. Specifically, the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area, or TEDA, issued a letter of endorsement to Cintas for the contract’s support of the Chinese economy.
Royal Caribbean global supply chain officer, Mike Jones, says the new deal with Cintas had its beginnings early last year, when the line’s board of directors expressed interest in developing more partnerships in China to demonstrate its commitment to the region, beyond basing more ships there.
“As part of that request, the executive committee asked supply chain to go out and identify several key partnerships that have an impact on employment and what we spend there, and would be recognized by the government as a contribution to the overall economy,” Jones explains.
“Cintas refocused their efforts on sourcing from factories in China, and they’re increasing their production there,” Lisa Ghai, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. manager of hotel procurement, says of the multimillion-dollar deal. “At the same time, we’re able to offer our internal customers significant savings on some of their highest volume items, so it was a win-win.”
