Since November 1, 2020, Germany is in lockdown. Technical ship calls and layups are permitted but ship cruises have been suspended.
During the past weeks, Cruise Gate Hamburg, together with stakeholders (including Hamburg Tourism Association) focused on the opening of a new YouTube Channel named ‘Hamburg Cruise News’.
According to Simone Maraschi (CGH's managing director), the purpose of the channel, especially in the current situation, was "to re-establish confidence and trust in the cruise industry and keep the community informed about" their activities.
“In the future we will also present videos concerning the environment, sustainability and impact of cruise tourism. These are all topics which have caused controversial discussion in the past. We feel it is our duty as a port within a city community to engage in open discussion and present clear facts and information to the community.”
Prior to the lockdown in November, Port Hamburg had been one of the few in the world to remain open during the COVID crisis. 11 cruise vessels found a temporary home in the port. While some crew members returned home, those remaining onboard were taken care of by the city which organized Corona-Port-Concerts and sightseeing tours. Cruise Center Steinwerder was also set up for drive-in cinemas and concerts for locals, instead of cruise vacations.
Sustainability remains centre stage. For a total of 30 days, ms Europa 2 was supplied with shore power at the cruise terminal in Altona and certified. In addition, the Hamburg port has fought to have excess food from cruise ships donated to a cause instead of going to waste.
In June the new cruise ship terminal Baakenhoft went into operation, now serving as a call port at HafenCity.
Despite the pandemic, Hamburg has hosted a total of 83 calls in 2020 from AIDA Cruises, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, Hurtigruten, and TUI Cruises.