Added capacity keeping German source market on top

Some 2.02m ocean cruises were sold to the German source market last year, up 11.3% on 2015.

AIDA’s newest ship AIDAperla, handed over this week in Japan and TUI Cruises’ latest newbuild Mein Schiff 6 arriving next month, will both be named in Germany in June.

Between them the cruise line duo claim over 70% of the German market share.

AIDA Cruises’ carryings are supplemented by sister Costa Cruises which is set to carry around 160,000 German-speaking passengers this year with Costa Magica undertaking 11 partial turnarounds in Bremerhaven.

With eight of its 12 ship fleet sailing in North European waters this summer, AIDA’s vp communications and sustainability Hansjoerg Kunze says ‘infrastructure in North German seaports will be challenged.’

He was speaking at the 2017 Cruise Europe Conference held on Wednesday in Bremerhaven’s Columbus Cruise Center.

Another Bremerhaven customer is TUI Cruises. Tine Oelmann, director port ops, shore excursions and ground ops called the large terminal, ‘a good place for turnarounds providing a lot of opportunities and works well for us.’

TUI, which recorded a 22% share of the German market last year believes the demand will continue.

Oelmann showed findings from a TUI conducted survey in Germany which showed a 29% interest in taking a cruise from holidaymakers that had not yet tried it.

Of the 71% who said they were not interested, over half said it was for elderly rich people, she remarked.

Other negatives were environmental impact focus and overcrowded ports/destinations.

‘That is why it is so important that the cruise industry continues to get the message out about the positives of what we are doing,’ Oelmann remarked.

Germany is the second largest source market behind Italy for MSC Cruises, informed Michael Zengerle, md MSC Kreuzfahrten.

2017 sees three ships positioned in Germany: Fantasia (Kiel), Magnifica (Warnemunde) and Preziosa in Hamburg.

In summer 2018, for the first time MSC will operate four ships from German ports raising capacity in Hamburg alone by 130%: Meraviglia and Magnifica from Hamburg, Orchestra from Warnemunde and Preziosa from Kiel. ‘Bookings for 2017 and 2018 are ‘extremely good’, he commented.

Zengerle did not rule out Bremerhaven as a future homeport. ‘As a cargo company MSC has a big presence in Bremerhaven so hopefully we can bring a cruise ship here one day,’ he exclaimed.

From a smaller ship perspective Michael Schulze, md of cruising Phoenix Reisen which operates four ocean ships and over 40 river ships making it Germany’s largest river cruise operator, spoke of carrying 180,000 passengers last year.

Phoenix is undertaking 48 turnarounds in German ports with Northern Europe a key destination. ‘We will make 152 calls in Norway to 30 different ports, 70 calls in Great Britain, 65 in Germany and 32 in Iceland,’ he added.