Andrei Tarasenko, Acting Governor of the Primorsky Territory, and Jorge Delgado, Vice President of Business Development, Global Government and Community Relations, Royal Caribbean Cruises LTD. have met today, 20 March 2018, to discuss the forthcoming calls of the cruise company’s ships to the port of Vladivostok, says press center of the regional government.
According to Jorge Delgado the calls of large cruise ships of Royal Caribbean Cruises to the port of Vladivostok are scheduled for September 2019. The PrimorskY Territory authorities earlier discussed dredging works to be performed at Berths No 1 and No 2 of Vladivostok port and the development of port infrastructure.
The ships of Royal Caribbean Cruises that will call at Vladivostok can accommodate 3,200 and 4,000 passengers. No ships of this capacity called at the port before since deepening at the berths is required for that purpose. As of today, the port of Vladivostok can accept passenger ships of up to 350 meters in length and up to 8.5-8.6 meters in draft.
Victor Vanyukov, Director of FSUE Rosmorport’s Far East Basin Branch, says the dredging project has already been approved. It is currently being assessed by the state environmental expert board. A roadmap to prepare Vladivostok port infrastructure for accepting large cruise ships was developed earlier.
“There is a schedule. This work will let the company make calls of large ships next year”, said Victor Vanyukov.
According to Andrei Tarasenko, the area near the passenger terminal that is currently used for cargo transportation will be developed to become a passenger zone.
Valery Nagorny, Director General of Commercial Port of Vladivostok, says the concept of the passenger terminal development foresees shifting of cargo terminals and the territory development.
According to Jorge Delgado, Royal Caribbean Cruises is looking into making calls at port Vladivostok for the coming 20 years.
“The Asian market is growing fast. Vessels calling at Vladivostok will sail from Shanghai via the ports of Japan. Vladivostok is attractive for tourists as the only European city on the route”, said Vice President of Royal Caribbean Cruises adding that Vladivostok is surrounded by beautiful nature which is also interesting for tourists.
Andrei Tarasenko emphasized that tourists delivered by the ships of Royal Caribbean Cruises will be able to visit the integrated entertainment resort «Primorye» and other sights. The head of the Primorsky Territory has set a task of signing an agreement with Royal Caribbean to ensure that a local company will be an operator providing services to tourists. In his turn, Jorge Delgado said that they have a potential partner in Primorye able to offer transport, tours and travel assistance services.
Cruise season of 2018 has already started in Vladivostok. The first ship, Amadea, with about 600 foreign tourists, came on 26 February.
The year of 2017 saw a record high number of calls at Vladivostok – 15. More than 13,000 foreign tourists were offered tours around historical and cultural sights of the region.