Kiel becomes a cruise hotspot: 1 million passengers and more shore power!

Kiel becomes a cruise hotspot: 1 million passengers and more shore power!

The cruise industry is optimistic for the 2025 season, especially in Kiel. AIDA Cruises plans to visit the Schleswig-Holstein port city all year round from the 2025/26 winter season. This includes seven-day tours from Kiel to popular destinations such as Tallinn, Helsinki, Stockholm and the fjords of Norway, scheduled to start in early November 2025. Original plans to travel to Dubai and Abu Dhabi were canceled due to the security situation in the Middle East. The Kiel seaport is expecting a total of 175 cruise ship calls this year, including the “Mein Schiff 1”, “Mein Schiff 7” and the “AIDAnova”, which was the first ship of the season to dock in Kiel on April 26, 2025.

In midsummer, three cruise ships are said to be in the port at the same time almost every Saturday. The port expects around a million cruise passengers this season, which will be served by a total of 18 shipping companies. Efforts to reduce environmental impact will be supported by the simultaneous expansion of the shore power supply at Ostseekai, which is expected to supply three cruise ships and four ferries with electricity by autumn 2025. Around 70 percent of all ocean cruise ships in Kiel are scheduled to be connected to the shore power system by 2025. This is part of a larger initiative that has so far been driven forward with an investment of around 50 million euros in infrastructure.

More environmentally friendly cruises in Kiel

The shore power supply at the port of Kiel has become more important in recent years. The PORT OF KIEL recently achieved a record: On September 25, 2024, the “AIDAnova” became the 100th cruise ship to be connected to the shore power systems, thus achieving the goal of connecting more and more ships to this environmentally friendly energy source. Compared to the previous year, only 15 percent of the connections were subject to technical tests; 85 percent are now purely standard supply. With 41 connections, AIDA Cruises has the most use of Kiel's shore power infrastructure. This shipping company was also the first to oblige the use of shore power in Kiel in 2018.

Information on shore power shows that cruise ships require on average 1-3 attempts for technical testing before they can be connected to standard power. This year, ten cruise ships successfully made the transition to regular service, and over the past few years, 22 ships have successfully completed the necessary technical tests. The Kiel port facilities obtain their electricity as green electricity via the spot market. The goal of the PORT OF KIEL is to bring all ships capable of shore power into standard supply through a partnership with shipping companies such as AIDA, TUI, MSC, Costa, Hapag-Lloyd, Holland America Line and Phoenix Reisen.

The regional organization NABU Kiel nevertheless criticizes the cruise industry due to air pollution and the traffic load caused by arriving passengers. These concerns highlight the delicate balance that needs to be struck between economic growth in the tourism sector and environmental concerns. Lübeck is currently planning to upgrade with additional shore power systems by 2027, supported by funding of 11 million euros from the federal and state governments.