Mainly responsible for the growth were ferry ship services to and from Scandinavia, Russia and the Baltic region. Dr Dirk Claus, Managing Director of the Port of Kiel (SEEHAFEN KIEL GmbH & Co. KG) said “the port can look back on an exceptionally good half year. If developments remain as positive as this we will, for the first time ever, handle more than 6 million tons by the end of the year”. Along with sea cargo handling, demand for other port services, such as warehousing or cargo transshipment, has also risen sharply. Intermodal rail-ship traffic showed a welcome increase as well: nearly 10,000 freight consignments were loaded in the Ostuferhafen and at Schwedenkai in the first half year. Since the introduction of a new generation of big RoPax ships on the route between Kiel and Gothenburg, cargo handling at Schwedenkai has more than doubled. “The 30 million Euro transformation of Schwedenkai created the infrastructural foundations for this growth”, said Dirk Claus, “and the investment has been well worthwhile”. Not only Schwedenkai services but also the liner shipping services to and from the eastern Baltic have proved to be growth engines. More than a million tons of cargo were carried on the Kiel-Klaipeda route alone. A bigger RoRo cargo ship, the “Tor Botnia” has been in operation between Kiel and St. Petersburg since the start of the year and at the end of May DFDS Seaways opened a new liner shipping service between Kiel and Ust-Luga.
In the passenger sector, 816,000 travellers boarded or disembarked from a ferry or cruise ship in the first six months of the year. This is 2.5% more than in the same period of last year. The number of cruise ship passengers – 147,600 – showed above-average growth. Even though the number of ship calls up to the middle of the season was lower than last year, there were still more passengers to greet. Dirk Claus said “the trend towards bigger ships with more passengers remains unbroken. Along with the Ostseekai Terminal we will also offer the Ostuferhafen to cruise shipping companies from 2013 to meet rising demand and to expand our capacities.” The Ostuferhafen’s Berth 1 is being made more capable up to then so that at peak times when the Ostseekai is occupied, cruise ships of more than 300 m in length can also be handled there.