Carnival Corp has a new chief operating officer, overseeing in part its maritime and ports operations.

The New York-traded, Miami-based cruise major announced on Friday that Josh Weinstein would take the post immediately after three years overseeing Carnival UK, which operates brands P&O Cruises and Cunard.

"Josh is a highly talented executive with extensive industry experience and institutional knowledge who will add important strength to our senior leadership team," said Carnival chief executive Arnold Donald.

"We are leveraging our pause in cruising to make a number of strategic changes within our business, including this important role, which is designed to strengthen our global operations and position the company and our brands for the future."

Weinstein will report directly to Donald and will remain in charge of the two UK lines.

He has spent a decade at the company, serving as its treasurer and an attorney in its legal department.

In addition to his maritime responsibilities, he will oversee global sourcing, information technology and auditing.

Opportunity

"I am grateful for this opportunity and looking forward to taking on this important role at a critical time for our company," Weinstein said.

"I certainly realize that many opportunities and challenges lie ahead as we look to restart our cruise operations aground the globe."

Alongside the industry's other major players, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line, suspended operations in mid-March amid the Covid-19 outbreak.

The company has not sailed since, pushing it to a $4.4bn loss for the second quarter as reported earlier this week.

Donald said the company would not be able to say when it would return to operation, though the company has said it has billions in the bank to deal with the downturn.

Around lunchtime Friday, Carnival shares were up $0.11 to $18.93.

Shares had traded as high as $51.35 this year.