Tuesday, May 22, 2018 - 15:11 by ce-press
The new cruise quay in Visby was officially inaugurated on April 29 with a call from AIDAdiva. The venture is a collaboration between Region Gotland and Copenhagen Malmo Port (CMP) with the former building the quay and the latter taking responsibility for the actual operations.
At the same time, both parties are marketing Gotland as a destination together with Gotland Cruise Network.
Work started in February 2016 and the terminal was opened for arrivals in accordance with the time schedule. “CMP has a long and positive experience of developing cruise ports and marketing destinations. The fact that we are now also able to offer our customers Visby as a cruise destination is a milestone. It makes the cruise routes in the Baltic Sea even more attractive,” commented Barbara Scheel Agersnap, ceo CMP.
This year 90 calls and some 90,000 passengers are scheduled to visit Gotland with the aim being to reach 150,000 passengers within a few years.
“Together with CMP and Gotland Cruise Network, we want to establish conditions for the visitors to have unique and positive experiences of cruising to Gotland and that businesses throughout Gotland perceive the business opportunities, our initiative and our collaboration with CMP entail,” said Peter Lindvall, regional director of Region Gotland.
Sustainability issues have played a major role during the project. The ships that come to Visby can empty their wastewater into an underground basin and equalising tank with a total capacity of 1,200m3, from where it is pumped onward to the sewage works. The sludge can then be used in biogas production on Gotland.
Two 340m-long ships can dock simultaneously at the quay. Including abutments, it will extend 599.9m out into the sea. The terminal, which is adjacent to the quay, is 300m2 and houses tourist information, toilets, storage and areas for passengers, authorities and crew members.
The land area is around 15,000m2, with 12,000m2 for the quay. It was created from approximately 130,000m3 of dredging spoils. The breakwaters consist of approximately 80,000t of granite. Approximately 20,000t comes from Gotland, the rest was delivered by barge from the mainland.
The quay’s anchor rods are drilled 10m down into the bedrock. There are 44 bollards on the quay: four on the dolphins, 24 on the quay and 16 on the access bridge.
There are five lighted buoys in the water on the sides of the quay. The lighted buoys denote the dredged area with a free depth of 11m at average water level.
At the far end of the quay are two dolphins by which ships will anchor. From the bridge between the dolphins it is about five metres down to the surface of the water.
Cruise and Maritime Voyages’ Astoria was the very first vessel to call the new cruise terminal on April 16.
