By
Rebecca Gibson |
The Port of Kiel inaugurated its new Ostuferhafen Berth 1 cruise passenger pavilion with the arrival of Costa Cruises’ 114,500 gt Costa Pacifica on 2 June.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by Reinhardt Meyer, the minister of Economics, Labour, Transport and Technology in the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein; Ulf Kämpfer, Lord Mayor of Kiel; Neil Palomba, senior vice president of hotel operations and product development at Costa; Paolo Benini, captain of Costa Pacifica; and Dirk Claus, the port’s managing director.
“This is a great day for the Port of Kiel,” said Dirk Claus, managing director at the port. “The innovative new pavilion structure on Berth 1 is ideal for turning around passengers on very large cruise ships and offers the best in nautical and operational conditions – even now, despite the fact that not all the external work has yet been completed.”
Boosting the number of Kiel’s cruise berths to three, Berth 1 and the new passenger pavilion have been designed to enable the German port to handle turnaround calls in Ostuferhafen for the first time. Kiel already has two berths for large cruise vessels at the Ostseekai Terminal, while smaller ships can berth at Norwegenkai, Sartorikai or Schwedenkai. This gives the port the capacity to handle 150 calls by cruise ships in a single season.
Located on the eastern side of Kiel Fjord, Berth 1 was inaugurated in June 2013 with a call by Hapag-Lloyd’s Eurodam and was initially used for transit calls. It now has a 400 m quay with a new passenger gangway and fender system, enabling it to accommodate ships in excess of 300 metres in length.
Last autumn, the port began work to attach a passenger pavilion to an existing warehouse measuring 110 metres in length, 14 metres in width and ten metres in height. Built with transparent ETFE-folio cladding and steel – commonly used in sports stadia – the terminal has the capacity for 4,000 guests and features a 1,560 sq m check-in and waiting area, as well as a 3,000 sq m hall for luggage handling and customs and security checks. The facilities can be extended in the future according to demand.
In total the port has invested around €4.5 million to upgrade the quay, construct the passenger terminal and convert the neighbouring warehouse.
“Over the last few years Kiel has created outstanding infrastructures for its ferry and cruise shipping business – Norwegenkai, Schwedenkai, Ostseekai – and now the new berth in the Ostuferhafen,” said Meyer. “These have all proved to be correct decisions because the trend to sea tourism remains undiminished.”
As Ostuferhafen is located close to Kiel’s central railway station and various motorways, the port will carry out a study to assess the feasibility of operating passenger trains from the terminal on days when a cruise ship is in port. Additionally, the railway siding could be used for passenger charter trains taking guests on excursions.