OREANDA-NEWS. March 19, 2014. It will be the 11th time that a national delegation from Lithuania takes part in the largest annual exhibition and conference on cruise shipping in the world, Cruise Shipping Miami 2014, held in Miami, USA. Miami, the world’s capital of cruise shipping, hosts this event for the milestone thirtieth time.

“Participation in an event of such scale is an opportunity to represent the port of Klaipeda on the international level, directly let our potential clients know of the attractions in our port and country and what could be of interest to tourists travelling aboard cruise ships. We are going to this international exhibition happy in knowing that 2014 will be a record year as there will be more cruise ships stopping at the port this year than ever before in its history”, - said Arvydas Vaitkus, Director General of Klaipeda State Seaport Authority, taking part in the exhibition. The Port Authority will also be represented in the USA by Arturas Drungilas, Director for Marketing and General Affairs.

According to preliminary data the port of Klaipeda will receive cruise ships 65 times this year. Expected number of arriving tourists can reach about fifty thousand. The port is also expected to receive the largest ship in its history. The 317.2 meters long Celebrity Eclipse will be visiting Klaipeda on the 17th of June. The cruise season begins in the only port city of Lithuania on the 8th of May.

At the Cruise Shipping Miami 2014 Lithuania will be represented on the national 18 m2 stand by the State Enterprise Klaipeda State Seaport Authority, Public Institution Klaipeda Tourism and Cultural Information Centre, UAB „Limarko juru agentura“, UAB „Klaipedos Meja“, UAB „Krantas Travel“, and AB „Klaipedos laivu remontas“.

The Cruise Shipping Miami exhibition spanning three decades of events attracts tens of thousands of visitors and gathers about 1000 exhibits from more than 100 countries. At the conference taking place during the exhibition discussions focus on prospects of cruise shipping and involve environmental concerns, renewal and expansion of navigation, aspects of vessel construction and design, consideration of services and technologies available aboard ships as well as servicing of travellers at cruise terminals and attractiveness of these terminals.

After the exhibition in Miami where a cooperation agreement between the ports of Klaipeda and Miami will be officially signed representatives of the Klaipeda State Seaport Authority and Ministry of Transport and Communication of the Republic of Lithuania will go to New Orleans and Huston as it is also planned to sign cooperation agreements with these ports.

More information about the exhibition and conference is available on the official Cruise Shipping Miami 2014 website at http://www.cruiseshippingevents.com/miami/. The list of ships arriving at the port of Klaipeda in 2014 is published on the website of the Klaipeda State Seaport Authority at http://www.portofklaipeda.lt/kruizines-laivybos-sezonas-2014-m.