German-based cruise line AIDA Cruises achieved the highest monthly value for shore power usage in June 2024.
AIDA Cruises supplied its ships with green energy from shore during 45 calls during June at European ports, and this value exceeds the purchases achieved in the whole of 2023.
All AIDA ships that will be deployed in Northern Europe in 2024 can use green shore power, as the cruise line mentions.
The main driver is the ongoing expansion of port infrastructure.
With the facility at the Hamburg-located Cruise Center Steinwerder, which went into trial operation in December 2023, and where three AIDA ships – AIDAprima, AIDAperla and AIDAnova – regularly dock, AIDA ships can now use shore power for the first time in all German ports.
Kiel and Rostock-Warnemünde have had the necessary shore power infrastructure since 2021; In Hamburg-Altona, the first European shore power system for cruise ships was put into operation in 2017. Here, the AIDA ships are also the main users of the systems.
Expansion is also progressing in other European countries. More shore power systems are to be added soon to the ten ports in Hamburg, Kiel, Rostock, Southampton, Aarhus, Kristiansand, Alesund, Haugesund, Bergen, and Malta, currently offering shore power.
AIDA Cruises is supporting ports such as Stockholm, Oslo and Rotterdam as a pilot partner for the commissioning of their shore power systems.
“The cruise company welcomes the plans of other countries in the North and Baltic Sea regions and the Mediterranean to set up shore power,” the cruise operator added.
Dirk Inger, SVP Public Affairs, Communication & Sustainability at AIDA Cruises, said that “Shore power is an important element for decarbonization, as our ships spend an average of 40 percent of their travel time in ports.
“With our ship-side investments in this technology, we are actively supporting the European Union’s goals of building shore power infrastructure in ports of the Trans-European Transport Network by 2030.”
