Hamburg begins building its third cruise terminalHamburg begins building its third cruise terminal

The terminal at Kronprinzkai, in the port’s Mittlerer Freihafen area, is going up on a site the size of two football pitches. It will be able to process 8,000 passengers simultaneously, with separate embarkation and disembarkation areas. Disembarkation will take place in the east building, while at the same time embarking passengers will be able to board their vessel via the west building.

The road intersection at the CC3 terminal will also be modified and equipped with traffic lights. In addition to land access it will be possible to reach the new terminal by ferry, and a  public jetty is being built in the eastern area of the terminal complex for this purpose.

The existing quay walls will be retrofitted with fenders, bollards and pile moorings to facilitate the largest cruise ships.

Hamburg projects 187 calls and almost 600,000 passengers, an 8% increase, for the 2014 cruise season. Some 23 lines will deploy 35 ships.

This year, for the first time, August will be the busiest month, not May. Gerd Drossel, managing director of Hamburg Cruise Center, said August will have 43 calls, the 2014 Hamburg Cruise Days and a passenger volume of 125,000.