The Hon Wayne L Furbert, JP MP, Minister of Transport, attended the annual Seatrade Cruise Global Conference held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, March 27-29, accompanied by the Section Head of the Transport Planning Team, Stacey Evans. The Minister met with various Cruise Line Executives including Bermuda's cruise line contract partners, Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean Group. Other meetings included Carnival Corporation & PLC, Disney Cruise Lines, Seabourn, Silversea and the Scenic Group, as well as meetings with the host ports of Boston (MassPort) and Baltimore.

Francis Richardson, Chief Executive Officer of the Bermuda Shipping and Maritime Authority as well as Joanna Cranfield and Rebecca Martin from the West End Development Corporation also attended Seatrade Global and joined the Minister in selected meetings.

The annual Seatrade Global Conference brings together nearly 10,000 industry influencers, high level cruise executives and stakeholders from approximately 140 countries, and over 300 journalists from around the world. The conference explores the State of the Global Cruise Industry via a Keynote with chief executives of the world’s largest cruise organisations, followed by the opening of a three-day exhibition with up to 700 exhibiting companies, ports and destinations. Cruise Lines host meetings and the conference organisers host serval enlightening talks and panel discussions from Best Practice for Ports & Destinations to Luxury Cruising, and Blending Cruise Experiences to name a few in the 2023 program.