Port of Kiel presents annual results 2018. Growing cruise sector continues to set records. Passenger traffic rises 4.2 % to over 2.2 million travellers
Last year, Kiel was visited on 169 separate occasions (143 in 2017) by 34 different cruise ships with a total gross tonnage of more than 11.5 million – an increase of 15.3 % over the previous year.
Nearly 600,000 cruise passengers boarded or left a cruise ship at the different terminals, an increase of 16.5 %. Dr Dirk Claus, the Managing Director of the port: “We will surpass these cruise business results again this year. The high-lights will be the “Mein Schiff 2”, the “AIDAprima” and the “MSC Meraviglia” in Kiel.”
To date 179 visits to Kiel by 33 different cruise ships have been registered. Total gross tonnage will increase to over 15 million and the number of passengers could reach 620,000.
The most fre-quent guests this season will be the ships of AIDA/Costa, TUI Cruises and MSC with AIDA and TUI Cruises calling at the port with 4 different vessels each. The biggest cruise ship this year will be the “MSC Meraviglia” with 171,600 GT and offering 5,700 passenger beds.
New visitors will also be the “Nieuw Statendam” of Holland America Line as well as “AIDAprima” which will be the first cruise ship to be supplied with eco-friendly LNG during its stay in port. The regular season will start on 31st March with a visit by the “Viking Sky” and will end mid-October. At the moment, however, the latest newbuild of the Meyer Turku shipyard, the “Mein Schiff 2”, can be seen in Kiel. It will be handed over to the shipping company of TUI Cruises on 22nd January.
INVESTMENTS IN PORT EXPANSION AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
The PORT OF KIEL is currently investing more than 30 million Euros in port expansion and environmental protection.
The port apron of the Ostuferhafen will be redesigned by spring so that logistical processes can be optimized and the hard standing space for trucks, trailers and cars will be expanded. In the meantime, the construction works for the first onshore-power supply plant of the commercial port are in full swing in the city port.
The plant, which will supply eco-friendly electricity to the vessels of Color Line, will be completed by Easter. At the same time, a Europe-wide tender for onshore-power supply plants to be installed at Ostseekai and Schwedenkai is being prepared.
Dirk Claus said: “50 % of our entire investments are dedi-cated to environmental protection. It is our aim to cover some 60 % of the energy needed by the vessels calling at Kiel with on-shore power.”
The largest individual investments of the PORT OF KIEL are the on-shore power supply plant at the Ostseekai and the brand-new sec-ond terminal for cruise passengers, amounting to 13 million and 9 million Euros. The new building of 3,700 m² abuts the existing one on its northern side and the two of them will form an ensemble. Up to now, two cruise ships have been handled at one Ostseekai Terminal, how-ever, in the future there will be a dedicated building for each ship.
