The “Delphin” – The Last Cruise Ship of the Season

Arrival of the “Delphin” cruise ship at Klaipeda Seaport on September 11, 2013 concludes the cruise season that started in Klaipeda Seaport on May 4.

The Delphin is a Frequent Sight in Klaipeda Seaport

The last ship to visit the Port of Klaipeda this year arrives at port annually. This cruise ship flying the Bahamas flag is 157 m long, 21.8 m wide and has draught of 6.2 m.

The ship is chartered by “Jūrų agentūra Forsa”, JSC and tourists are catered for by “Klaipėdos Mėja”, JSC. Said cruise ship will bring 470 tourists, i.e. she will arrive with a full complement of passengers. A tour was booked by more than 300 passengers aboard the ship. The guests will have the opportunity to visit the Curonian Spit and Palanga, go sightseeing in Klaipeda and its old town area, i.e. see German heritage, and will be able to meet with Memellanders (Klaipeda District Germans called Memelländers in Germany).

Cruise Statistics

In total 40 cruise liners will have cast anchor at Klaipeda Seaport this year (43 in 2012).

According to preliminary estimations this year about 33 000 passengers will have visited Klaipeda aboard cruise liners. Last year inbound cruise ships brought 26 769 tourists to the port city.

This year 13 large (longer than 175 m) ships have cast anchor in Klaipeda Seaport and 3 of the arriving ships were registered for the first time: the 130.64 m long “Ocean Majesty”, 186 m long “Silver Whisper”, and 214.66 m long “Thomson Spirit”. These cruise liners were customarily given Klaipeda Seaport’s coats of arms.

Preliminary data indicate that 48 cruise ships will arrive at Klaipeda Seaport in 2014. Please note that registration finishes only around February of 2014. According to the available data next year’s cruise navigation season will be rich in both ships and passengers.

Port duties collected from cruise ships arriving in Klaipeda Seaport in 2013 will total a tentative sum of 1.36 million LTL. In 2012 the amount of duties collected from cruise ships totalled 1.325 million LTL.

This year as always delegations of Klaipeda Seaport took part in cruise events, where Klaipeda was advertized as a cruise port. The delegations took part in exhibitions and conferences as well as activities of international associations. In the past years funding allocated by the Seaport Authority for marketing of cruise navigation totaled:

2013 – 119 620.00 LTL
2012 – 88 675.00 LTL
2011 – 83 500 LTL
2010 – 92 000 LTL
2009 – 118 500 LTL

Seeking to comprehensively develop the cruise navigation market the Seaport Authority has covered the better part of expenses incurred in cruise exhibitions: costs of the “Cruise Shipping Miami” exhibition held in Miami totaled the Seaport Authority 40 thousand LTL, costs of the “Seatrade Europe” exhibition held in Hamburg, 28 thousand LTL.

This year 50% of the Cruise Baltic Association activities were paid for totaling 21 580.00 LTL.

The Seaport Authority also funds advertizing (educational) events, production of advertizing souvenirs, gifts, paraphernalia, brochures, representation of Klaipeda Seaport in a specialized foreign publication on cruise navigation. About 30 thousand LTL is allocated for these purposes.

It bears noting that this year a new passenger and cargo terminal is nearing completion. It is intended for proper, high quality reception and servicing of cruise ships. The Seaport Authority has allocated 112.5 million LTL for construction of this terminal’s infrastructure.