Hamburg has celebrated a record year in its cruise shipping history and replaces Kiel as the most important destination[ds_preview] in Germany. Hamburg Cruise Center (HCC) reported that 160 passenger vessels called in 2012, 151 of them started or terminated their trips there, nine were transits. Hamburg has counted over 430,000 passengers last year, 37 % more than the reported 314,500 in 2011. For this year, Hamburg expects to pass the 500,000 passenger mark for the first time. There are 173 (+8 %) ship arrivals scheduled for the upcoming season. The largest vessel will be »Queen Mary 2« (148,258 GT, 345 m length), followed by »Costa Pacifica« (114,288 GT, 290 m length) with the highest passenger capacity of 3,780. The 21 shipping companies coming to Hamburg this year – some of them who have never been there before – announced 34 vessels for calling the Hanseatic city. At this year’s port anniversary in May, eleven cruise ships are scheduled to visit Hamburg: »Aida Sol«, »Empress«, »Europa 2«, »Hamburg«, »MSC Magnifica«, »Aida Luna«, »Artania«, »Deutschland«, »Mein Schiff 1«, »Queen Mary 2« and »Fram«. Four vessels will call Hamburg for the first time this year: »Aida Stella« on 12 March, »Europa 2« on 9 May, which will be christened in Hamburg one day later, »Azamara Quest« on 23 July and »Carnival Legend« on 9 September. The large number of cruise ship arrivals and the greater demands concerning the handling of passengers because of growing ship dimensions underline the necessity for Hamburg to look for additional berthing capacity. Meanwhile, from 24 to 26 September the »Seatrade Europe – Cruise and Rivercruise Convention«, one of the largest trade fairs in cruise shipping, takes place in Hamburg for the seventh time.
