By
Rebecca Gibson |
Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark is to inaugurate Copenhagen Malmö Port’s (CMP) four, new cruise terminals on 2 May 2014, when Royal Caribbean International’s Legend of the Seas makes her first call to Copenhagen.
Located in the Danish capital of Copenhagen, three of the terminal buildings have been constructed on a new 1,100 m pier, which will accommodate three large cruise ships. Each of the 3,300 sqm terminal buildings will have a 1,800 sqm space for passenger handling operations and 1,500 sqm for luggage handling.
Across the sea in Malmö, Sweden, a 2.400 sqm warehouse has been converted into a cruise terminal to cater for turnaround calls from Pullmantur Cruises. The line has moved Empress from Copenhagen to Malmö and will also use Malmö Airport as the gateway for its three Boeing 747 flights.
In total, DKK600 million has been invested to complete the project.
“We are looking forward to gaining smooth access to the new quay and terminals, which will enable us to provide an even higher service to ships and passengers and at the same time, the solutions for cars, buses and taxi service will become even more efficient,” said Arnt Moller Pedersen, COO of cruise, ferries and maritime services at CMP.
In 2014, the ports of Copenhagen and Malmö are set to handle more than 323 calls from 71 ocean cruise vessels from 37 international shipping companies.
Opening with a visit from AIDA Cruises AIDAcara on 7 April, CMP’s 2014 season will feature inaugural calls from eight vessels in Copenhagen. These include Royal Caribbean’s Legend of the Seas, Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Infinity, Hapag-Lloyd’s Europa 2, Seabourn’s Seabourn Quest and Seabourn Legend, Compagnie du Ponant’s L’Austral, Princess Cruises’ Royal Princess and Louis Cruises’ Louis Aura.
Collectively, the two ports expect to welcome around 800.000 passengers and 230.000 crew members from more than 140 countries during the main cruise season, which ends with a call from Cruise & Maritime Voyages’ Marco Polo and AIDA Cruises’ AIDAcara on 17 October. Three ships will call again in December for the Christmas market cruises.
Next year is also set to be a busy year as CMP has already scheduled more than 300 calls, a record number of forward bookings.