AIDAprima to Call Hamburg Home

German cruise line AIDA Cruises has selected the Port of Hamburg as the home port for AIDAprima, currently under construction at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ Yokohama shipyard, and expected to embark on its maiden voyage in October.

MHI was awarded a contract to build two new generation cruise ships for AIDA Cruises in August 2011. The cruise vessel will be the first to sail from the German port of Hamburg all year round.

AIDAprima has a length of 300m, width of 37.6m and a draft of 8m. The gross tonnage of the cruise ship, which will be classified under the DNV GL class, is 124,500t.The new cruise ship will feature 1,643 staterooms of 14 different categories to accommodate up to 3,300 passengers.

”The cruise industry is booming in Hamburg, and AIDA continues its growth trend on the German cruise market: thus, two successful concepts are complementing each other,” Frank Horch, Hamburg Minister of Economy, Transport, and Innovation said.

”I am particularly pleased that AIDA Cruises – as well as the Hamburg Senate – relies on innovative eco-friendly technologies from Northern Germany. We are well prepared in Hamburg to welcome the future of cruising in our smartPort!”