Seatrade Cruise Connection

December 2005

International Super Yacht Symposium to return with expanded program

Following its successful debut during Cruise Shipping in 2005, the Super Yacht Symposium is returning, and organizers expect an even wider audience for the highly focused conference sessions. The two-day conference runs Wednesday and Thursday, March 15- 16, and addresses issues pertinent to the burgeoning super yacht market.

Many of those issues are shared by the larger cruise industry, and between suppliers, shipbuilders and ports, the two industries share broad synergies.

“There are a lot of good practices within the cruise industry that will help yachts move forward in this period of great expansion,” said Richard Bridges, a delegate to the first symposium who captains one of the world’s largest megayachts. “This is the first time I can remember seeing a correlation between the two at a major event.”

Super Yacht Symposium has grown into a full slate of panel discussions covering all aspects of this growing sector. In addition, the convention’s exhibition provides symposium participants plenty of opportunities to meet exhibitors in the design, building, operations and supply sectors showcasing products and services used by both super yachts and cruise ships.

Further, the exhibition houses the world’s largest gathering of infrastructure suppliers for port, harbor and marina operators.

A symposium attendee turned firsttime exhibitor is Harry Raymond, general manager of Ocean World Marina, the first full-service, state-of-the art marina facility located on the north coast of the Dominican Republic.

“I came to the Seatrade show to attend the Super Yacht conference, and I said that this is exactly the venue to showcase Ocean World Adventure Park & Marina to the yachting community,” said Raymond. “By exhibiting, we are looking to achieve product exposure and establishment of business connections with the movers and shakers of the yachting industry.”