LOS ANGELES COUNTY - News from Sept. 17, 1987

John P. Bland, who steered Los Angeles-based Sitmar Cruises through 14 years in the travel business, resigned Wednesday as president and chief executive.

In a memo distributed to the company’s 250 employees, Bland, 54, declined to discuss his future but said the company’s expansion plans “remain very much in place.”

The 16-year-old line, which carries about 100,000 passengers annually on three ships to ports in Mexico, Alaska, the Caribbean and South America, plans to double its capacity with the addition of three ships by 1991, spokeswoman Julie Benson said. “We are looking at a big spurt of growth here,” she said, adding that Bland’s departure was “very much a surprise.”

A pioneer in the West Coast cruise business, Sitmar is a subsidiary of the V Group, based in Monte Carlo, which is expected to name a replacement for Bland next week.