Port of Kiel marks 2,500th cruise ship visit
Kiel is celebrating the arrival of its 2,500th cruise ship visitor Cunard Line’s “Queen Elizabeth”, which berthed this morning to mark the event. She followed “MSC Musica”, “AIDAluna” and “AIDAvita” into the port.
The first cruise ship to visit Kiel, according to the ledgers of the Port Administration, was the Reederei Hapag-Lloyd’s “Europa” (IV) which berthed at the Bollhörnkai on June 23rd 1974. A total of four cruise ship visits were recorded in that first season – two by “Sagafjord” and two by “Europa” (IV). During the 1980s and the 1990s, Kiel was visited by ever more cruise ships. Regular callers on the Kiel Fiord were well-known German ships like “Berlin”, “Europa” (V), “Astor” and also the “Arkona”.
Inside just ten years between 1984 and 1994 the number of visits rose from 14 to 66. There was a completely new development at the end of the 1990s when the former Reederei Festival Cruises stationed a ship in Kiel for the whole of the season. From 1998 the “Flamenco” and later the “Mistral” were involved in as many as 19 Baltic and Nordic cruises a year. Because of the experience gained at this time with ferry services, existing terminal facilities and service packages, Kiel was able to quickly develop into one of the leading departure and destination ports. In 2002 the Costa Shipping Company stationed the “Costa Marina” in Kiel. It was followed by AIDA with the first “AIDAblu” (2004) and by MSC with the “MSC Lirica” (2006). In 2007 Kiel berthed 100 cruise ships in a single season for the first time.
Up to that time cruise ships had been handled along with ferries at the ferry terminals but because of the development of ever bigger ships it became clear that Kiel would need a terminal just for cruise ships. The new Ostseekai Terminal was built in 2006 in readiness for the next generation of cruise ships and was formally opened on April 24th 2007 with the maiden call of the “AIDAdiva”.
The biggest cruise ship to call so far has been the 143,000 GT “Regal Princess, which berthed last year. Cruise ship highlights at the Ostseekai Terminal have included the naming of the “AIDAsol” for AIDA Cruises in 2011 and that of “Mein Schiff 4” for TUI Cruises just last year. Kiel is, today, the base port for all the cruise shipping companies operating on the German market. In addition it is also one visited by international shipping companies like Holland America Line, P&O Cruises and the Cunard Line.
The company which has recorded the most visits to Kiel so far is MSC, with 327, followed by AIDA, Hapag-Lloyd and Costa. A total 4.5 million cruise ship passengers have to date travelled to and from Kiel. Because of its investment in Berth 1 in the Ostuferhafen Kiel has, since 2014, also been able to accept three big and several smaller cruise ships all at the same time.