MedCruise celebrated in Marseille its 41st General Assembly and participated with a very strong presence in Seatrade Med 2012.
MedCruise the Association of Mediterranean Cruise Ports held its 41st General Assembly in Marseille France on November 26 on the occasion of the Seatrade Med Cruise Convention hosted by the Marseille Cruise Club. The event was held at the Palais des Congres in the Parc Chanot where the Seatrade Med Cruise Convention took place. The Assembly voted in four new members – one port member and three associate members keeping the membership increasing.
The new port member admitted was Mersin International Port (Turkey) and the following companies joined as associate members: Samer & Co. Koper (Koper Slovenia) D’Alessandro Travel (Tunis) and La Goulette Cruise Terminal (Tunis).
This brings MedCruise membership to 72 port members and 30 associate members representing more than 100 ports in 20 countries of the Mediterranean and adjacent Seas.
During the General Assembly several projects were presented including the final document on the Port Finances Benchmarking Study preliminary report on the Sustainable Cruise Project and their ‘Statistics Report 2012 edition’ giving once again a very complete analysis on the Mediterranean cruise traffic. These studies will be now published and distributed among our members and they will be discussed publicly.
Another new development presented at the meeting was the new website of the Association which is expected to go live on December 10 2012. The new website includes unique innovating tools such as an interactive map of member ports distance calculator and an itinerary planning tool among other features. Member Port pages will provide detailed information about every service they offer at the port any useful information concerning the destination and statistics. Altogether this will be a very useful tool for cruise lines as well as for other industry agents.
The day after the General Assembly took place the Seatrade Med Cruise Convention started. MedCruise principal supporter of Seatrade Med had a very strong presence in the exhibition with a large pavilion housing 30 stands at which 34 of its members exhibited.
MedCruise’s President Stavros Hatzakos spoke in the ‘Waterfront Development Session’ giving a view from the point of view of the Ports and updating the audience on MedCruise Members waterfront developments.
MedCruise presented together with Costa Crociere during the exhibition the project ‘Sustainable Cruise’ which they are developing together. The project is focused on the waste management on board of the cruise ships and at the ports and one of the main objectives is to create a Mediterranean network of ports for the cooperation in the management of waste that is offloaded onshore.
‘Throughout the two and a half day exhibition the MedCruise Pavilion was a hive of activity. A large number of our 100 members participated in product presentations meetings and networking sessions. As principal supporter we are very pleased with this event’ stated Stavros Hatzakos President of MedCruise.
MedCruise Pavilion at Seatrade Med 2012 had 34 members exhibiting.
Many MedCruise Members presented their ports and destinations as well as their new products in a very dynamic common area.
MedCruise Members networking at the lunch buffet offered by the Association in the Pavilion’s common area.
