HX Expeditions has emerged from a demanding year of organisational restructuring and system overhauls as it disentangled itself from sister brand Hurtigruten, wit CEO Gebhard Rainer revealing the expedition cruise line is now turning its focus to “optimisation”.

Speaking to LATTE during a recent visit to Sydney, Rainer said the past 12 months had been a period of intense internal transformation, describing the split process as a profound challenge.

“It’s been a lot of very hard work, a lot of difficult separation as we realised just how integrated the whole thing was,” he said. “We had to trim back and get to a realistic size that is commensurate with the size of the business that we have.”

He referred to the freshly separated business as “the upside down startup”. “It’s a startup that comes with a real heavy baggage,” he explained. “We came with this huge body around us.”

Rebuilding has therefore required new systems – including a booking platform that “took us the whole year to install” – as well as a comprehensive brand repositioning effort, made yet more crucial by the imminent loss of naming rights.

In order to ensure a smooth transition, this name change has been carried out in stages. “There is an IP issue,” Rainer confirmed. “We have had an agreement in place that expires now at the end of the year, so we have to give up the name.”

Any mention of the word Hurtigruten will be dropped by the end of the year, he said. And while the company is now still known as HX Expeditions, the plan is to take it down further still. “Eventually it’s going to trim down to HX,” he said. “The reason why we still have ‘Expeditions’ there is because HX standalone people can’t associate what industry it belongs to.”

HX’s transformation has been fuelled by fresh investment, with a recent funding injection from Arini Capital Management – a major investor also in Hurtigruten. “They have given us 140 million euros in working capital and cash flow with the intended plan that it will take us through 2025 which is still a build-up year,” Rainer shared, “2026 is the first year the company needs to show its opportunity.”

Fortunately, market dynamics are on the company’s side, with a global surge in expedition travel. “The market since 2019 pre-pandemic has grown over 70% in expedition,” he said. The U.S. has seen “year over year growth of over 50%,” while Australia and New Zealand delivered “close to 30% growth year over year.”

Indeed, in line with this, Australia has become a key focus geographically and commercially. He identified the region as one “where expedition has a lot of opportunity” revealing that 2027 will see HX turn its attention to planning some itineraries that will feature Australia as a destination.

But first, Rainer is determined to “optimise” HX Expeditons’ current operations, setting firm foundations for future growth. “We have great destinations,” he stressed. “Now it’s really up to us to optimise those destinations, making sure that we fine tune the experiences, making sure that we get the ships occupied the way they need to be occupied to have commercial success as well.”

Despite the structural upheaval, Rainer identified his proudest achievement over the past year has been the resilience and commitment of the people behind the brand.

“When I look at our team as a whole, despite all the obstacles, they have really pulled through with passion and dedication,” he said.

This human core is crucial to the future of the brand in his view. “We sell experiences and we sell emotions,” he pointed out. “The ship is really secondary for us. Every one of our team members understands that. We are a big part of helping people to really slow down in their travel and immerse themselves into absolutely unique experiences that will stay with them for a lifetime.”