Kiel marks its 100th shore power call of 2024 as AIDAnova plugs in at Ostseekai

LNG-powered AIDAnova has called at Kiel’s Ostseekai, marking the 100th cruise ship to be connected to the port of Kiel’s shore power facilities in 2024.

The port’s authority claimed that this has never happened before in a German port, adding that almost 70% of ocean-going cruise ships have used Kiel’s shore power facilities so far this season.

Shipping companies that use the shore power in Kiel include AIDA, TUI, MSC, Costa, Hapag-Lloyd, Holland America Line and Phoenix Reisen. A third of 100 connections are made via the newly built facility at the Ostuferhafen which went into regular operation for the first time in 2024 and regularly supplies the MSC Euribia and Costa Diadema.

AIDA Cruises is said to be the leader in the use of Kiel’s shore power infrastructure with a total of 41 connections. With the AIDAsol, the company became the first cruise ship operator to use shore power in Kiel in 2021. AIDAprima, AIDAbella, AIDAluna and AIDAnova followed in the years that ensued.

Dirk Claus, Managing Director of Port of Kiel, stated: “At the beginning of the year, our declared goal was to connect one hundred cruise ships – and we are very pleased that we have now achieved this before the end of the season.”

“While half of the connections last year were still for technical preparation tests, 85 per cent of the connections are now pure standard supply. This makes it clear that the development of shore-based power supply for seagoing vessels into a standardised technology can work. Particularly in view of the national environmental targets in the maritime sector, we can say: Kiel is well prepared and our shore power strategy of recent years is paying off. By 2025, we will have invested around 55 million euros in our plants.”

Felix Eichhorn, President of AIDA Cruises, commented: “Together with the PORT OF KIEL, we have worked intensively on the shore power strategy over many years and have achieved continuous progress. The PORT OF KIEL recognised the potential of shore-side power supply early on and made corresponding investments. The milestone achieved today is the result of our joint efforts as partners to make cruise shipping more sustainable.”

In recent years, the port of Kiel has set itself the goal of successively bringing all shore power-capable ships into standard supply at the Kiel facilities.

The port said: “On average, cruise ships require between one and three calls in order to successfully pass all the necessary pre-operational technical tests. This year alone, ten cruise ships were integrated and brought into the regular supply. In recent years, 22 cruise ships have successfully undergone or completed the technical tests in the port of Kiel and can therefore draw regular electricity from the corresponding shore power plant when they call at the port.”

To note, with a regular supply, the cruise ships use shore-side electricity for the entire time they are berthed, which, on average, is approximately 8 – 10 hours.

With shore power facilities at all major ferry and cruise terminals and parallel supply capacities for up to two cruise ships and four ferries, the port of Kiel is said to be one of the international pioneers in the field of shore power. An expansion of the facility at the Ostseekai is currently being planned, which will enable the parallel supply of three cruise ships in the port in 2025.