Ferry services to Scandinavia and the Baltic region showed above-average growth, while trade with Russia continued to decline. Dr Dirk Claus, Managing Director of the Port of Kiel (Seehafen Kiel GmbH & Co. KG) comments: “Kiel has achieved a record result. Increases of as much as 7.6 % were posted at the public terminal facilities operated by the Port of Kiel.” The port was able to win two important new customers in the past year – SCA and Iggesund Paperboard – and to open a new forest products terminal in the Ostuferhafen. “Investment in the paper business means we will continue to grow and can now set our sights on a seven million ton handling figure”, says Dirk Claus. “It is also of decisive importance that we have been able to expand the port’s logistics competence”, he added.
Almost 2.1 million travellers were recorded on passenger services – an increase of 3.4 % over the previous year. All the ferry operators reported growth with Color Line posting the highest number of passengers. In the cruise shipping sector Kiel can look back on its most successful cruise shipping season ever with record results in the numbers of ship calls, passenger totals and overall tonnage.