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The Port of Rostock-Warnemunde has reported 175 calls and more than 700,000 passengers for the 2015 season, claiming to be the busiest cruise port in Germany. “We thank all the cruise companies, service providers and public authorities for their good collaboration this year,” commented Jens A. Scharner, managing director of the Rostock Port Development Company.
Of the 175 port calls by 39 different cruise vessels this year, 163 docked in Warnemunde and 12 at the overseas port. The largest vessel to call was the Royal Princess with a length of 330 meters and a gross register tonnage of 142,714.
There were a total of 92 turnarounds during which all or some of the passengers embarked or disembarked. Rostock-based AIDA Cruises, for instance, sailed two ships on Baltic Sea cruises from the port.
Of the 354,000 individual cruise passengers (passengers are typically counted twice when the embark and when they disembark), the majority were Germans at 110,000, followed by 55,000 Americans, 27,000 British, 23,000 Spaniards, 17,000 Italians, 15,000 Canadians, 10,000 Australians and 97,000 tourists from 148 other nations.
The port also noted that the cruise calls brought a total of 133,000 crew members from 129 countries, of which more than one third went on shore leave.
Sixteen percent of all cruise guests coming to Warnemunde, or approximately 57,000, went on day trips to Berlin by train or coach. About 165,000 passengers set out to discover Warnemunde, Rostock or Mecklenburg-Vorpommern on day trips, and more than 130,000 started and/or ended their cruise in the passenger port at the mouth of river Warnow.
Based on a study by Rostock University on the spending behavior of passengers and crew, it was estimated that passengers and crew spent at least Euro 15 million during the 2015 season, especially in local and regional shops, hotels and restaurants, on public transportation, taxis and car parking in Warnemunde, Rostock and the immediate surroundings. Adding to this is the revenue realized by coach operators, railway, travel agents for shore excursions, utilities, supply and disposal companies, shipping agents, pilots and port operators. “It’s a long value-added chain and that’s why the cruise business in Warnemunde is so important for the city and the federal state,” explained Scharner.
Seventeen cruise ships also discharged grey water directly from the ship into the public waste water system during 78 port calls this year. In total 26,000 cubic meters of ship’s waste water were disposed of. Last season the number was 21,000 cubic meters.
