German port has already scheduled 116 cruise calls for this year, including several maiden visits
By
Rebecca Gibson |
The Port of Kiel in Germany expects to welcome around 400,000 cruise passengers in 2016.
To date, Kiel has booked 116 cruise ship calls for the 2016 season, which opens on 25 April with the arrival of AIDA Cruises’ AIDAluna and closes on 8 October with the departure of AIDAvita.
Several vessels will make maiden calls this year including Holland America Line’s Zuiderdam on 14 May and the line’s newbuild Koningsdam on 30 June, and P&O Cruises’ Arcadia, which will call on 22 June during the Kieler Woche regatta. TUI Cruises’ Mein Schiff 5 will also sail her inaugural voyage from Kiel on 16 July.
Another highlight will be a visit from The World, the largest privately owned residential yacht, which will remain at the port between 30 May and 2 June. The largest ship to visit will be Costa Cruises’ 114,500gt Costa Pacifica, while AIDA, TUI and MSC Cruises will be the most frequent visitors.
“We are expecting 400,000 cruise shipping passengers this year, which will be the second best result ever in this market segment,” said Dirk Claus, managing director at the Port of Kiel.
Last year, the port of Kiel handled 132 cruise calls from 25 different ships, a rise from 127 in 2014, and 2.1 million passengers, a 2% increase from the previous year. The number of passengers who boarded or disembarked from cruise ships at Kiel terminals in 2015 rose to 458,152, a growth of 29.4 % from 2014.
“We can look back on a record cruise shipping season,” said Claus. “Passenger totals and overall ship tonnage are new top results for Kiel. No other German seaport currently has more passengers who spend at least one night onboard a ferry or cruise ship than Kiel has.”