The visit of the cruise ship ”AIDAprima“ on Saturday, 12th October, marked the conclusion of the ocean-going cruise liner season in Kiel 2019. The port says it has been visited this year on 174 separate occasions (2018: 169) by 32 different cruise ships with a total tonnage of 15 million GT (2018: 11.5). For the first time ever and exceeding the port’s expectations, about 800,000 cruise passengers embarked or left a ship at the terminals in Kiel (+ 33.6 %). The cruise and ferry passengers as well as the crews generated a total consumer spending of more than 75 million Euros in Kiel and the region. Dr Dirk Claus, Managing Director at the PORT OF KIEL (SEEHAFEN KIEL GmbH & Co. KG): “The Cruise Season 2019 went very well for the port of Kiel. The shipping companies and the port cooperated excellently.” This was all the more important as the new construction of the second terminal building as well as the festivities marking the Anniversary of German Unification required a temporary adaption of handling processes at the northern Ostseekai berth. Furthermore, the expanded cruise termi-nal in the Ostuferhafen area which had been inaugurated last April proved successful to in-crease the capacity and flexibility of the port. Dirk Claus: “Very big ships with more than 4,000 passengers can be handled smoothly at the Ostuferhafen Terminal. The customer satisfaction confirms the facility’s high quality and efficiency.”
The Cruise Season 2019 in Kiel had widely diverse facets. Right at the beginning of the year, the latest newbuild vessel of TUI Cruises, the “Mein Schiff 2”, was showcased at the Ostseekai. The largest ship of the season, the “MSC Meraviglia” (171,600 GT), first showed itself on the fjord at the end of April. The most frequent guests were the vessels of the AIDA shipping company with an inaugural call by the “AIDAprima”. Also the vessels “Nieuw Statendam” (Holland America Line), the “Marella Explorer” (Marella Cruises) and the “Vasco da Gama” (CMV/Transocean) visited Kiel for the first time. Dirk Claus: “On the one hand there is a high growth rate in terms of ship sizes and passenger volume but on the other hand, the vessels scheduled by the shipping companies to visit Kiel are often very young and particularly eco-friendly. With the construction of the on-shore power supply plant at the Ostseekai Terminal, Kiel leads the way in terms of sustainability and will become one of the most eco-friendly ports throughout Europe.” Construction works have started these days so that next year there will not only be the second terminal building but also the most powerful on-shore power supply plant in a German port to be commissioned at the Ostseekai Terminal. In the first full operat-ing year 60 to 70 cruise ship visits as well as the Stena Line ferries are supposed to be supplied with on-shore power so that approx. 12,000 tons of carbon dioxide greenhouse gas emissions (CO2) can be avoided. This is how the PORT OF KIEL supports the international shipping in-dustry as well as the State Capital City of Kiel in reaching their climate targets.