By
Alex Smith |
The Port of Kiel has ended its 2022 cruise season, concluding the busiest year of cruise calls in the port’s history.
The arrival of Vasco de Gama on 28 October is the last of 243 calls during this cruise season, almost 40 per cent more than in 2019. Of these calls, 34 were transit calls, a significant increase over previous years. Twenty ships also made their maiden call in Kiel this year, including vessels owned by Norwegian Cruise Line, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line and Hurtigruten.
“There have never been so many inaugural calls in one season,” says Dirk Claus, managing director of Seehafen Kiel. “We are particularly pleased that after several years of planning we have succeeded in increasingly attracting international shipping companies to Kiel.”
The 2022 season was also the first to see full use of the port’s shore power facility, which provided power to AIDA Cruises’ AIDAprima, TUI Cruises’ Mein Schiff 4 and Mein Schiff 6, Phoenix Reisen’s Artania, and Holland America Line’s Nieuw Statenddam. Kiel expects that triple the number of ships will connect to the facility in 2023 following integration, and two further facilities are being planned in Kiel for completion by the end of that year.
“Our conclusion after the first full shore power season is that the ships at the Ostseekai terminal find an excellent infrastructure and employees with extensive know-how that make integration from our side possible without any problems,” said Claus. “Of course, the technical retrofitting of the ships must now also take place successively on the part of the shipping companies. We already know from many ships that integration tests are firmly scheduled for 2023. That is an important signal!”