The visit of the cruise ship AIDAprima on Saturday, October 12, marked the end of the oceangoing cruise season in Kiel, and what a season it was with ship visits and passenger numbers up over 2018.
In total the port was visited 174 times (2018: 169) by 32 different cruise ships with a total tonnage of 15 million GT (2018: 11.5). For the first time the port exceeded the 800,000 cruise passenger threshold (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.
“The cruise season went very well for the port of Kiel," said Dr. Dirk Claus, Managing Director Port of Kiel. "The shipping companies and the port cooperated excellently.”
Record numbers were recorded even while the cruise terminal underwent expansion, with the new construction of a asecond 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. “Very big ships with more than 4,000 passengers can be handled smoothly at the Ostuferhafen Terminal," said Dr. Claus.
Highlights from the 2019 Kiel cruise season include:
-- TUI Cruises new vessel Mein Schiff 2 was showcased at the Ostseekai terminal.
-- The largest ship of the season was the 171,600-gt MSC Meraviglia
-- The most frequent guests were the vessels of the AIDA shipping company with an inaugural call by the AIDAprima.
-- New ship visitors in 2019 includied HAL's Nieuw Statendam; Marella Cruises' Marella Explorer; and CMV/Transocean's Vasco da Gama.
Construction work has recently started and next year there will not only be the second terminal building but also, according to Dr. Claus,"the most powerful on-shore power supply plant in a German port to be commissioned at the Ostseekai Terminal, helping to further improve the port's carbon footprint.
