The call by AIDAcara on Sunday, April 7, marks the beginning of cruise season 2019 in the port of Kiel.
The cruise port is currently investing around EUR 30 million in the cruise sector. Half of the amount is dedicated to sustainability measures. The building of the first onshore power supply plant of the commercial port at the Norwegenkai Terminal is now on the finishing straight and will be inaugurated this spring.
Ostseekai Cruise Terminal and Schwedenkai Ferry Terminal will both boast onshore power supply plants in 2020. The innovative project has been tendered recently.
Kiel expects a new record in terms of tonnage. After Mein Schiff 2 has been handed over by Meyer Turku Shipyard to TUI Cruises at Ostseekai at the beginning of 2019, another 6 maiden visits are envisaged for the season.
Nieuw Statendam, AIDAprima, and the expedition vessel World Explorer will visit the seaport for the very first time. The most frequent guests will be the ships of AIDA, Costa, MSC, and TUI that use the port for passenger turnaround.
The largest ship of the season is the 171,600 GT MSC Meraviglia which is due to set a new record on the fjord in terms of tonnage. With this vessel, MSC Cruises is offering 22 itineraries across Northern Europe starting from Ostuferhafen. The season's peak is expected on August 17 when in addition to cruiseferries to Scandinavia there will be 4 ocean cruise liners in port at the same time - AIDAprima, AIDAluna, MSC Meraviglia, and Vasco da Gama.
A total of 179 calls (in 2018 - 169) by 33 different cruise ships have been registered in Kiel for this year. The overall tonnage rises to over 15 million GT (in 2018 - 11.5 million GT) and the number of cruise passengers is due to exceed 600,000.
A second modern terminal building is under construction at Ostseekai, that abuts the northern side of the current terminal building. The works have begun with the laying of the foundation stone in October 2018 and will continue until summer 2019.