New berth for cruise ships in Warnemünde completed

The new berth 8 in the Warnemünde shipyard basin has been completed on schedule for the 2009 cruise season beginning 01 May. The third and last phase of construction, commissioned by Hafen-Entwicklungsgesellschaft Rostock, was carried out by regional construction companies. Hafen-Entwicklungsgesellschaft Rostock, the operator of the cruise port in Warnemünde, is owned by the Hanseatic City of Rostock and the federal state of Mecklenburg Vorpommern.
“Around two million Euro was invested in the third phase of construction between September 2008 and April 2009. The project included equipping the berth with media and utility lines for electricity, lighting, telephone, video, sound, fresh water, waste water, as well as paving of the surfaces”, explains Ulrich Bauermeister, Managing Director of Hafen-Entwicklungsgesellschaft Rostock. “We now have two berths that are able to accommodate all sizes of cruise ships, and are well-equipped for future growth in the cruise shipping segment.”
The two regional construction companies – Tias Tiesler and ASA Bau - executing the project jointly laid around 16 km of cable and nearly 1000 m of piping; an area of 6500 square meters was newly surfaced, 1000 square meters paved with asphalt; a fence was rebuilt along a length of 525 meters. In addition, the channel between the Alter Strom and the shipyard basin was newly constructed along a length of 40 meters. Stadtwerke Rostock installed a new transformer station to supply the entire cruise terminal with electricity.
Berth P8 in Warnemünde was newly constructed at a total length of 465 meters in three phases beginning in September 2007. The state of Mecklenburg Vorpommern and Hafen-Entwicklungsgesellschaft invested around 11 million Euro in the project.

Cruise season in Warnemünde begins with the arrival of the Norwegian Jewel
The 2009 cruise season begins on 1 may with the arrival of the 295-meter-long Norwegian Jewel of the American cruise operator Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL). In this year’s cruise season, 114 port calls by 29 different cruise ships with a total passenger volume of over 160,000 will be carried out. 22 international cruise operators have included Rostock’s seaside resort town Warnemünde in their programs this year. With the new club ship AIDAluna of the Rostock-based cruise operator AIDA Cruises is scheduled to carry out 15 passenger change-overs, and NCL scheduled to carry out partial passenger change-overs, over 200,000 passengers will be cleared in Warnemünde this year. The cruise season is scheduled to come to a close on 15 December with a pre-Christmas visit by Black Watch of the English Fred Olsen company. This year’s cruise season boasts 18 double port calls and four triple port calls by cruise ships. Three ships – AIDAluna, Emerald Princess, and Adrianna III – are making their first appearances in Rostock this year.

Five “Rostock Port Parties” in Warnemünde
Hafen-Entwicklungsgesellschaft Rostock is again organising “Rostock Port Parties” this year together with sponsors and partners. The “Port Parties” are planned for high-profile visits by cruise ships at the passenger terminal in Warnemünde. Beginning at 19:00, the departure of the ships is celebrated with live music, a tug ballet, and the parties are hosted by Marko Vogt from NDR1 Radio MV and Horst Marx. Each party closes with a spectacular firework show.
The first “Rostock Port Party” in 2009 takes place on 08 May to celebrate the maiden arrival of the AIDAluna in Warnemünde. This latest edition to the AIDA fleet is arriving in Warnemünde on 08 May around 8:00 a.m. accompanied by ship parade of tugs, fire boats, rescue cruisers, passenger ships and sail boats. The AIDAluna is scheduled to depart from the Warnemünde Cruise Center around 22:00 under a colourful firework show. Additional parties are planned for 11 June, 13 July, 03 August and 25 August.
The “Rostock Port Parties” are supported by Hanseatischen Brauerei Rostock, Tourismuszentrale Rostock & Warnemünde, Norddeutscher Rundfunk, Karls Pier 7, Lotsbetrieb Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Weiße Flotte, Fahrgastschifffahrt Schütt, and the Rostock tugs.

Source: Transportweekly