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Dirk Claus News

16 Feb 2020

Kiel Intros Germany's Largest Shore Power System

The Port of Kiel commissioned Siemens to build Germany’s largest shore power system to date which is capable of supplying two ships simultaneously.With a power of 16 megavolt amperes (MVA), the Siharbor solution will supply two ships simultaneously with certified eco-power, for the first time. This will reduce annual CO2 emissions by more than 8,000 tons.The system is expected to go into test operation within the 2020 cruise ship season. Maritime shipping plays a special role in Kiel. The port is the point of departure for cruises and has ferry connections to the Baltic states and Scandinavia. 32 different cruise ships stopped in 174…

11 Oct 2019

Port of Kiel Cruise Numbers up 33.6%

AIDAprima in Kiel / Foto: Stephen Gergs

The visit of the cruise ship AIDAprima on Saturday, October 12, marked the end of the oceangoing cruise season in Kiel, and what a season it was with ship visits and passenger numbers up over 2018.In total the port was visited 174 times (2018: 169) by 32 different cruise ships with a total tonnage of 15 million GT (2018: 11.5). For the first time the port exceeded the 800,000 cruise passenger threshold (embarked or left a ship at the terminals) in Kiel (+ 33.6 %). The cruise and…

27 May 2019

Nieuw Statendam's Maiden Call at Kiel Port

The latest newbuilding of Holland America Line’s fleet (HAL) “Nieuw Statendam” arrived in the Port of Kiel from Stockholm for its maiden call in the last week, on Thursday morning (23rd May).During the on-board reception, the Managing Director of the Port of Kiel , Dr Dirk Claus, welcomed the ship’s Captain to the State Capital City of Schleswig Holstein and presented him with the handmade plaque for the vessel’s maiden call manufactured by the metal artist Patrick Schloßer.Dirk Claus said: “Kiel has been an integral part of Holland America Line’s itineraries for the eleventh year in a row now. We are very proud that Kiel belongs to the ports where the latest newbuilding of the shipping company is showcased.”In addition to the vessel “Nieuw Statendam”…

09 May 2019

Port of Kiel Enables Emission-Free Berthing

The Port of Kiel’s first shore-based power supply plant for shipping was officially inaugurated at the Norwegenkai on May 9th, said the Baltic region port.With immediate effect, the Color Line’s big cruise-ferries can now be supplied with emission-free electric power from on shore.Minister-President of the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein, Daniel Günther said: “By using power from on shore we are reducing to zero the emission of harmful substances as well as of greenhouse gas-es during the time ships are berthed in the port. Schleswig-Holstein supports this trend-setting project and will encourage further facilities of this type.”Schwedenkai…

08 Apr 2019

Port of Kiel Begins Cruise Season 2019

The call by AIDAcara on Sunday, April 7, marks the beginning of cruise season 2019 in the port of Kiel.Dr Dirk Claus, Managing Director at Port of Kiel (Seehafen Kiel GmbH & Co. KG) said: “The upcoming cruise season will be very exciting and we will welcome a lot of new ships to Kiel. The second and new terminal building at the Ostseekai is presently under construction and we are working on the implementation of the onshore power project.”The port is currently investing about 30 million Euros in the cruise sector. Half of this amount is dedicated to sustainability measures. To that effect, the construction of the commercial port’s first onshore power supply plant at the Norwegenkai Terminal is on the finishing straight.

29 Oct 2018

Kiel Port Ends Most Successful Cruise Shipping Season

On Sunday October 28th with the visit of the “AIDAbella” Port of Kiel closed its latest cruise shipping season.This year the port has been visited 166 times by 33 different cruise ships with a combined gross tonnage of more than 11 million. For the first time close to 600,000 cruise ship passengers, 16.4% more than last year, have passed through the port’s terminal facilities to end or embark on cruises.Dr Dirk Claus, Managing Director of the Port of Kiel(Seehafen Kiel GmbH & Co. KG) said: “We have posted a good result and continue to invest in the expansion of our infrastructures for passenger and baggage handling as well as in the…

25 Oct 2018

Port of Kiel Presents Emission-Free Berthing for Ships

The construction of the first onshore power supply plant for commer-cial vessels at the Norwegenkai Terminal in the port of Kiel has begun.Taking part in the official first-cut-of-the-spade-ceremony marking the start of the construction works at the Norwegenkai Terminal were the Economics Minister of the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein, Dr Bernd Buchholz, Kiel’s Lord Mayor Dr Ulf Kämpfer, Port Director Dr Dirk Claus und Color Line GmbH Managing Director Dirk Hundertmark along with Lars Nürnberger, head of Kiel’s Siemens AG branch office.As of spring 2019, it will be possible to supply big cruise ferries with all the electrical power they need during the time they are berthed in Kiel.“We are taking action to make a substantial contribution to air purification”…

02 Sep 2018

Port of Kiel, Costa Cruises Clebrate 40 Years of Partnership

Germany's Port of Kiel says goodbye to the  Italian cruise shipping company Costa Crociere cruise vessel Costa Pacifica for this year’s season on Sunday (September 02).To mark the over 40 years of partnership between the shipping company, the city and the port, Hans-Werner Tovar, City President, Dr Dirk Claus, Managing Director Port of Kiel, Captain Paolo Viscafè and Dr Jörg Rudolph, General Manager Costa Germany, unveiled a bronze plate on Kiel’s Walk of Cruise Ships at the Ostseekai Terminal.City President Tovar: “With this plate on the Walk of Cruise Ships, we commemorate the particular importance of Costa Crociere for Kiel as a cruise location. For more than 40 years the ships of Costa have been calling at our port.

27 Apr 2018

New "Mein Schiff 1" in Kiel

The youngest ship in the fleet of TUI Cruises - “Mein Schiff 1” - has arrived in Kiel on her first visit. Kiel is the first German passenger seaport in which the new vessel has introduced herself, just a few days after she was handed over to her owners following completion in Turku, Finland. The new cruise ship, which is of more than 111,500 GT and 315 m long, arrived in the Kiel Fiord early on Thursday morning, April 27th, and was welcomed with a water fountain tribute from one of the port’s tugs and escorted to her berth. Crowds of onlookers lined the banks of the fiord and came to the Ostseekai Cruise Terminal to catch a glimpse of the brand new “Mein Schiff 1”.

11 Mar 2018

Baltic Cruise Boom Boosts Chances for Port Cities

Good opportunities for local port cities are up for grabs as a cruise shipping boom sweeps the Baltic. Both Rostock and Kiel are already profiting from it. Between them they are expecting 1.3 million cruise ship visitors during this year’s season – an increase of 12.5% over last year. The managing directors of Germany’s two leading Baltic passenger ports, Rostock and Kiel, addressed the issue during a news conference at the ITB, the world’s leading travel trade fair in Berlin. The Managing director of the Port of Rostock (Rostock Port GmbH) Jens A. Scharner and Dr Dirk Claus, Managing Director of the Port of Kiel  spoke about the trend to sea travel in northern Europe and about new developments in the two Baltic ports.

02 Apr 2015

“AIDAcara” Opens Kiel’s 2015 Cruise Shipping Season

AIDAcara (Photo: Port of Kiel)

Kiel’s 2015 cruise shipping season gets under way on Easter Saturday, April 4th. That’s when the first ocean-going cruise ship of the year, “AIDAcara”, ties up at the Ostseekai Terminal after calling at Lisbon, Le Havre and Dover. During the coming season Kiel expects a total of 127 calls by 23 different luxury cruise liners, many of them very big ships of more than 250 m in length. The Managing Director of the Port of Kiel (SEEHAFEN KIEL GmbH & Co. KG) Dr. Dirk Claus said: “The trend towards ever bigger cruise ships continues.

12 May 2017

Mein Schiff 6 Makes Maiden Call in Kiel

Photo: Port of Kiel

The latest newbuilding to join TUI Cruises, Mein Schiff 6, has berthed in Kiel for the first time. Kiel is the ship’s first passenger port of call in Germany she has visited since she was handed over a few days ago in Turku, Finland. The 99,000 GT, 295 m long cruise ship arrived in the Kiel fiord on Thursday, May 11 to a water fountain welcome and was escorted to her berth by one of the port’s tugs. Onlookers lined the banks and visited the Ostseekai Terminal to catch a glimpse of Mein Schiff 6.

25 Apr 2016

Port of Kiel's Cruise Season is Underway

Photo courtesy of Port of Kiel

The cruise shipping season got underway in the Port of Kiel in the early hours of today with the arrival of the season’s first ship AIDAluna at the Ostseekai Terminal. The cruise ship is coming in after from a transfer trip from the Caribbean and will be based in Kiel – as will the AIDAvita and the AIDAlaura - for the whole of the summer season. During an on-board reception, Captain Marc-Dominique Tidow, representing the ship, its passengers and crew, was given a cordial welcome to Kiel by PORT OF KIEL Managing Director Dr. Dirk Claus.

14 Jun 2017

Port of Kiel Opens Waste-water Reception Facility

Photo: Port of Kiel

A modern ship waste-water reception facility went into operation at Kiel’s Ostseekai on June 14. During an inauguration ceremony the new plant’s valves were symbolically opened by Kiel’s Lord Mayor Dr. Ulf Kämpfer, Construction chief Doris Grondke, the head of the Water Management and Marine and Coastal Protection Department in the Schleswig-Holstein Environment Ministry Dietmar Wienholdt, Port chief Dr. Dirk Claus and Captain Kjell Holm of TUI Cruises. The new facility, which cost well over €1.8 million…

24 Jun 2016

Kiel is First German Port of Call for Mein Schiff 5

Mein Schiff 5 (Port of Kiel)

The brand-new TUI Cruises newbuilding Mein Schiff 5 has arrived in Kiel – her first German port of call since being handed over in Turku, Finland, a few days ago. The 99,500GT, 295-meter-long cruise ship sailed into the Kiel Fiord early this morning, escorted by a Kiel tug and to a water fountain welcome. Thousands of visitors to the Kieler Woche sailing regatta watched from the shore as the Mein Schiff 5 berthed at the Ostseekai Cruise Terminal. At the traditional onboard reception afterwards…

08 Jul 2016

Kiel’s Forest Products Center Launched

Kiel’s new forest products handling and distribution centre has gone into operation in the Ostuferhafen. This means that the port has now become an integral part of the logistics chain operated by the Swedish concerns Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget (SCA) and Iggesund Paperboard. Dr Dirk Claus, Managing Director of the Port of Kiel (SEEHAFEN KIEL GmbH & Co. KG) said: “We have created a terminal in the Ostuferhafen which is tailor-made to the requirements of our customers. In addition to that, Kiel’s geographical location fits very well into the SCA liner network”. SCA cargo ships from Sundsvall have been calling at the Ostuferhafen once a week since the beginning of the month, offloading 6,000 tons of forest products with each visit.

17 Oct 2014

Kiel's 2014 Cruise Shipping Season Ends

Photo: Port of Kiel

This year’s cruise shipping season in Kiel closes on the evening of October 18 when the AIDAcara sets sail for the Canary Islands. Dr. Dirk Claus, the Managing Director of the Port of Kiel (SEEHAFEN KIEL GmbH & Co KG), said, “We can look back on a season full of highlights and one which has also been marked by the inauguration of our fifth terminal berth for cruise ships.” The new passenger pavilion at the Berth 1 cruise shipping facility in the Ostuferhafen was officially inaugurated at the start of June when the 114,000 GT, 290 m long Costa Pacifica berthed there.

09 Aug 2016

Port of Kiel on Course for Growth

Photo: Port of Kiel

The Port of Kiel is on course for growth after upping handling in both the cargo and passenger sectors by nearly 2 percent in the first half of 2016. The port’s various quay and terminal facilities handled 3.1 million tons of incoming and outgoing cargo – an increase of 1.8 percent over the same period of last year - while in the passenger sector 886,000 people disembarked or boarded a ferry or a cruise ship in the port – a rise of 1.9 percent. Dr Dirk Claus, Managing Director of the Port of Kiel (SEEHAFEN KIEL GmbH & Co KG) said…

15 Aug 2016

Kiel Port Marks 2,500th Cruise Ship Visit

Kiel is today (Saturday, 13th Aug.) celebrating the arrival of its 2,500th cruise ship visitor Cunard Line’s “Queen Elizabeth”, which berthed this morning to mark the event. The President of the City of Kiel, Hans-Werner Tovar paid tribute to the occasion during a reception at the Ostseekai Cruise Terminal. “2500 visits are an enormous accomplishment and one achieved over many years of partnership and co-operation involving the port itself, shipping companies and service providers. I am proud that Kiel is one of the leading cruise shipping ports in northern Europe”, he said. To commemorate the 2500th visit, an artist’s wooden sculpture of a pile mooring was unveiled at the terminal. Dr Dirk Claus, Managing Director of the Port of Kiel (Seehafen Kiel GmbH & Co.

22 Oct 2015

Port of Kiel: Cruise Shipping Sets Passenger Record

"AIDAcara" in the port of Kiel (Photo: Port of Kiel)

Press release- This year’s cruise shipping season in Kiel was ending on Tuesday October 20th with a visit by the “AIDAcara”. Overall the port registered 133 calls this year by 25 different ships with a total tonnage of more than 8.6 million GT (an increase of 19.4% over last year). The port’s cruise terminals saw 458,771 passengers (29.6% more than in 2014) board or leave a cruise ship. Dr Dirk Claus, Managing Director of the PORT OF KIEL (Seehafen Kiel GmbH & Co. KG) said: “Both passenger figures and overall tonnage totals have set new records for Kiel”.

10 Oct 2016

Kiel Posts Its Best Ever Cruise Shipping Season

Photo: Port of Kiel

This year’s cruise shipping season ended in Kiel on Saturday (October 8th) with a call by the “AIDAvita”. Overall, the port of Kiel was visited 147 times this year by 26 different cruise ships of more than 9.3 million GT, compared to 133 cruise ship visits in 2015. That was an increase in tonnage of 8.1 % over last year. More than 485,000 passengers boarded or disembarked at the port’s various terminals – 5.8 % more than in 2015. Dr Dirk Claus, Managing Director of the PORT OF KIEL (SEEHAFEN KIEL GmbH & Co. KG) said: “We can look back on Kiel’s best cruise shipping season to date.

11 Mar 2018

Kiel Gets Second Cruise Passenger Terminal at Ostseekai

A second handling centre for cruise ship passengers and their luggage is being built at Kiel’s Ostseekai Cruise Shipping Terminal. Artist’s impressions of how the new building will look when complete have been made public for the first time at the ITB Berlin – the world’s leading trade fair for the travel industry. Dr Dirk Claus, Managing Director of the Port of Kiel said:  “Sea tourism is a strong growth market sector for the port of Kiel. In particular, the second terminal makes it possible to balance out individual operational processes. Whereas previously two ships were handled by just one terminal at the Ostseekai Terminal, in future every ship will have its own handling terminal.

16 Jan 2015

Port of Kiel Posts Positive Results for 2014

Photos courtesy: Port of Kiel

The Port of Kiel can post positive results for 2014. Both cargo handling and passenger totals continued to rise. The port turned over 6.43 million tons of cargo, 1.6 % more than in the previous year. Stena Line’s Kiel-Gothenburg route recorded the biggest increase in general cargo handling while Color Line’s Kiel-Oslo service posted the strongest growth in passenger transport. During the year a total of 1.98 million passengers started or ended a ferry or cruise ship journey in Kiel - an increase of 1.9 %. Dirk Claus, Managing Director of the Port of Kiel (SEEHAFEN KIEL GmbH & Co.

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