This year’s cruise season begins in Kiel: The 218-meter-long “Balmoral” with almost 1,000 guests is expected on board at the Ostseekai on Friday afternoon. The ship, put into service in 1988, is on its way from Hamburg to Rostock-Warnemünde. A total of 221 calls by 38 cruise ships are scheduled to call at the Kiel seaport this year. The largest is the 337 meter long “Aidanova” with a gross tonnage (GT) of 183,900. The GT indicates the size of a ship.

This year the season ends on December 29th. Last year, 244 cruise ships docked in Kiel, and the ships had a total of 836,000 vacationers on board. This year, the port of Kiel is focusing on a further expansion of the shore power supply for the lay times of holiday ships in order to reduce the environmental pollution caused by exhaust gases. “Together with the shipping companies, we want to supply a third of the cruise calls with shore power this season and thus send a clear signal,” explained port manager Dirk Claus.

“For us as a port, the offer of shore power supply is a significant contribution to more sustainability in the maritime industry.” Another shore power system for cruise ships will be put into operation at the Ostuferhafen in late autumn. This means that shore power is available at the three large berths in Kiel.

Crusader List Seaport Kiel