Denmark inaugurates first shore power facility with AIDAmar in Aarhus

Port of Aarhus, Denmark’s largest commercial port, opened its first shore power facility for cruise ships on June 20, 2023 enabling the vessels to keep their engines running on electricity while docked in the port and thus cut their emissions.

The Port of Aarhus is one of Denmark’s largest cruise destinations, and the port’s location is perfect for guests looking for different experiences in the Baltic Sea region.

The project aligns with the port’s goal of becoming the Baltic Sea area’s most sustainable and CO₂-neutral port by 2030.

The shore power facility was inaugurated with the AIDAmar cruise ship which was supplied with energy from shore in regular operation.

AIDA Cruises, part of the Carnival Corporation & plc, has been a strong supporter of the project and has helped commission the new plant. Namely, in April this year, AIDAsol was the first cruise ship to successfully complete shore-side and shipboard integration tests.

“We were the first cruise line to start using shore power in Europe! We show that we stand by our word, which we gave to our Cruise Baltic partners in 2022, and are pleased that our ships can now also use shore power in a Danish port. With our investments in this clean technology, we are actively supporting the European Union’s goals to build a shore power infrastructure in all major EU ports by 2030,” says AIDA President Felix Eichhorn.

AIDA Cruises has been considering the use of shore power in the planning and construction of its ships since 2004. Since 2021, AIDA ships have also been able to use shore power from renewable energies in Kiel and Rostock-Warnemünde. Thanks to the opening of further facilities in its European cruise destinations, the company extended the use of shore power to ports in Norway and the UK in 2022.

In addition to shore power, AIDA Cruises has been using LNG as a bridging technology as well as batteries to operate its cruise ships. The cruise company is working with various partners on the use of fuel cells or regenerative and synthetic fuels in the future and is evaluating several technologies to put into practice, the ultimate aim being to have a net-carbon-neutral ship operation for its fleet by 2050.