IAPH was present at this year’s edition of Seatrade Cruise Global, the world’s leading event for the maritime cruise sector, which takes place annually in Miami. President Jens Meier, chair of the IAPH Cruise Committee Simone Maraschi and managing director Patrick Verhoeven participated in various sessions, underlining the memorandum of understanding that IAPH signed with the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) at last year’s World Ports Conference in Kobe. Jens joined CLIA president and CEO Bud Darr in a fireside chat yesterday. They discussed how ports and cruise lines can work together to advance sustainability, strengthen infrastructure planning, and support resilient, high-value cruise destinations worldwide. On Monday, Patrick provided opening remarks during an exclusive preview of CLIA’s Cruise Port Compass: a comprehensive, expert-led master class series and development guide designed to help ports and destinations strengthen performance, attract deployment, and prepare for long-term growth. Patrick used the occasion to update the audience on IAPH’s initiative to develop a certification scheme for sustainable cruise ports. This scheme is based on the six thematic areas of the World Ports Sustainability Program and introduces tiered requirements per sustainability theme. The initial concept is ready for peer review, which will start at the IAPH Technical Committee Days in Singapore next week. The aim is to have the final concept presented at this year’s World Ports Conference and to launch the certification scheme at Seatrade Cruise Global in Miami next year.
