Amsterdam and IJmuiden played host to Cruise Europe’s annual general assembly last week. Fifty out of a total of 99 member ports attended despite European airspace being closed for much of the week before due to volcanic ash from Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull.
The majority of delegates stayed in the Movenpick Hotel right next door to Passenger Terminal Amsterdam (PTA) and minutes from the city centre.
This year Amsterdam is expecting 91 calls, of which 40 will be turnarounds. In all 185,000 passengers will visit. For next year 86 calls (39 turnarounds) are booked already but Dick de Graaff, commercial manager PTA, says: “We expect to end the year with around 95 to 98 calls”.
The port has maiden calls this year from newcomers MSC Magnifica, Seabourn Sojourn, Compagnie du Ponant’s Le Boreal and Cunard Line’s Queen Elizabeth. Turnarounds are taking place on vessels such as Costa Luminosa, Holland America Line’s Prinsendam and Oceania Cruises’ Insignia.
The 600m long quay with a depth of 10.5m, together with the terminal, is capable of handling two large turnarounds. The maximum size of vessel now able to come alongside has a length of 340m. The turning basin is 370m with a depth of 10m. The draught of the IJ canal to the PTA was widened.
During the assembly, president and chief executive officer Port of Amsterdam Dertje Meijer spoke of plans for the “nautical accessibility” of both cruise and cargo ships into Amsterdam. “A second large sea-lock has been on the drawing board and we are happy that the Dutch government has given the go-ahead for the construction.” Construction works are about to start and it is expected that this, the world’s largest lock, will be operational by 2016.
Ms Meijer concluded: “We are looking at various options in the port to build extra terminal capacity for cruise vessels [on turnarounds].” No further details are available at the time of writing.
