AIDA Cruises partners with Hamburg Port Authority for shore power development

German cruise line AIDA Cruises and Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) have signed a long-term deal to strengthen Hamburg as a cruise location and further shore power cooperation.

PHOTO: AIDA Cruises’ president Felix Eichhorn, Hamburg’s senator for Economic Affairs Dr. Melanie Leonhard and HPA’s chief executive Jens Meier at the deal signing. AIDA Cruises

Under the agreement, AIDA Cruises has committed to bringing ship and passenger volumes to Hamburg for another five years. It also unveiled plans to further shore power cooperation with HPA.

With 124 port calls so far in 2023, AIDA Cruises has become “the Port of Hamburg's largest cruise customer,” the company claims.

AIDA Cruises’ use of shore power

AIDA Cruises and the city of Hamburg laid the foundation of a shore-side power facility at the Cruise Center Altona, which commenced operations in 2017.

“We are the first cruise line to start using shore-side electricity in Europe. Since 2017 until today, [cruise ship] AIDAsol has regularly purchased green shore power year after year during their layovers in the Port of Hamburg,” AIDA Cruises president Felix Eichhorn says.

The port is planning to develop a shore power facility at its Steinwerder cruise terminal.

As part of the new agreement, AIDA Cruises will assist HPA for both “the shore-side and ship-side integration tests and for the opening of the new facility at the Steinwerder cruise terminal,” Eichhorn adds.

AIDA Cruises – part of British-American cruise operator Carnival Corporation – has also been using shore power from renewable energies in Kiel and Rostock-Warnemünde in Germany since 2021. With development of more shore power facilities across Europe, the company expanded its use to ports in Norway and the UK last year.

Shore power or “cold ironing” has been gaining traction across ports and ship operators globally because it helps to reduce emissions while a ship is berthed.

Last month, the Port of Stavanger contracted Norwegian electrical equipment maker Blueday Technology to install shore power at its terminal in Risavika in Norway. Also last month, British luxury cruise line Cunard enabled its entire fleet to connect to shore power.

By Tuhin Roy

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