Port St. Maarten representing destination at Seatrade Cruise Global Conference

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Passengers over the past weekend at the Dr. A.C. Wathey Cruise & Cargo Facility arriving at the home port building in preparation to board one of the home porting vessels docked at the pier.

 

PORT ST. MAARTEN – Port St. Maarten officials who left over the weekend are currently in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, attending Seatrade Cruise Global that is being held at the Broward County Convention Center from March 13-16.

The State of the Global Cruise Industry keynote at Seatrade Cruise Global is a highlight on the calendar for all executives in the maritime world and took place on Tuesday, March 14.

The 2017 State of the Global Cruise Industry once again set the course for the cruise industry’s premier global business-to-business event.  The panel comprised of Frank Del Rio, President & Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.; Arnold Donald, President & CEO, Carnival Corporation & plc; Richard Fain, Chairman & CEO, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.; and Pierfrancesco Vago, Executive Chairman, MSC Cruises.

Continuing to deliver innovative content, this year’s State of the Global Cruise Industry took on a new format beginning with four innovative one-on-one CruiseTalks by these leaders covering the key topics of Technology & Innovation, Shipbuilding, Destination Planning, and Environmental & Safety Practices.

This year’s State of the Global Cruise Industry was moderated by CNBC Reporter Susan Li. A general assignment reporter appearing on CNBC’s Business Day programming including “Squawk Box,” “Power Lunch” and “Fast Money.” Li was previously an anchor for CNBC International in London and earlier hosted multiple shows in the Hong Kong studio.

As the individual CruiseTalks conclude, the four executives were joined by Ms. Li for a panel discussion addressing the current hot topics in the industry. The expanding Asian market, ever changing geo-political climate, growing global fleet capacity and more will be items of conversation for the group.

Paul Rosen, Department of Homeland Security Chief of Staff during the Obama administration, is a panelist at the upcoming inaugural Seatrade Cruise Global Safety and Security Symposium.

A new addition in programming for 2017, the symposium will take place 14-16 March 2017 in the Floridian Ballroom of the Fort Lauderdale Broward County Convention Center. Rosen will share his knowledge and expertise on a variety of topics including cybersecurity from his tenure at the Department of Homeland Security.

Port St. Maarten is looking forward to meeting with cruise line executives and other cruise stakeholders during the four-day conference to inform them about current destination developments, the home porting facility, and other port-cruise related matters.

On Monday the first two conference sessions were “Creating the Perfect SHOREX Combination,” and “Cruise Port and Destination Networks.”

Besides the State of the Global Cruise Industry Keynote on Tuesday, other sessions that took place on Tuesday were: “Design & Interiors Over Land and Sea,” “Energy Consumption & Alternative Fuels,” “Operational Information Management & Big Data,” “Port Capacity – To Invest or Not?,” “Safety/Security Symposium Introduction,” “New and Developing Access Control, Identification and Monitoring Technologies,” and “The Future of Cruising in Europe.”

Seatrade Cruise Global is the leading annual global business-to-business event for the cruise industry, which brings together buyers and suppliers for a four-day conference and three-day exhibition.  The conference draws more than 10,000 registered attendees, over 700 exhibiting companies from 93 countries and more than 300 international journalists.  Experts, leaders and thought-makers of the cruise industry from the world’s largest cruise companies are the highlight of the conference.

The conference programs offer attendees a comprehensive roster of panel discussions and workshops featuring experts, leaders and thought-makers from the cruise industry.