Laem Chabang Port is located about 20 Km north of Pattaya and is well known as a major deep sea container port which is fast becoming the main port for Thailand as it expands to take over a lot of the traffic that was once serviced by Klong Toey Port in Bangkok.
This week the director of Laem Chabang Port and senior harbour management were on hand to welcome the captain of the cruise ship "The Mariner of the Sea" which is the first of a series of super size cruise ships that are scheduled to make Laem Chabang one of their regular stops.
"The Mariner of the Sea" is 312 meters long and has 2,000 cabins and carries around 3,800 passengers. With a contingent equivalent to 100 jumbo jets heading out for trips to Pattaya and Bangkok this is a well needed boost to the Thai tourist industry which is suffering badly from a significant drop in tourist arrivals post high season and of course affected by the current political turmoils in Bangkok.
The Director of the port said that Laem Chabang is one of only 6 ports that have the capability to handle these massive maritime floating hotels and with the completion of the new Jetty in phase 3 of the port even larger ships will be able to dock and enjoy the extensive port facilities and the easy and quick transport connections to local tourist destinations.
This contingent of tourists on a cruise which takes in Vietnam, Singapore Malaysia and Thailand are mainly Asian tourists from China, Malaysia and Singapore.
We wait in eager anticipation for the Vladivostok Voyager and Comrade Cruise Lines.
