Carnival MaritimeNews

Optimizing the port entries of the AIDA and Costa ships in Hamburg: Carnival Maritime collaborates with the Hamburg Vessel Coordination Center (HVCC)

Hamburg, February 26, 2016 – As of end of February, Carnival Maritime collaborates with the Hamburg Vessel Coordination Center (HVCC) in order to optimally plan the movements of the AIDA and Costa cruise ships in the Port of Hamburg and the narrow river Elbe. For this purpose, Carnival Maritime is sharing the expected arrival and departure times of the ships with the „Nautische Terminal Koordination” (nautical terminal coordination, NTK), a department of the HVCC. The department constantly matches this information with the current traffic situation and keeps Carnival Maritime informed. Should it for instance be predictable that there will be waiting time involved if the ship maintains the speed, because a Costa Group ship interferes with another large vessel, the NTK can recommend to speed up a little bit. Vice versa, an obstruction can be avoided by slightly reducing the speed. Carnival Maritime shares this information with the respective ship’s command so that they can optimize their speed. "This saves on fuel, because it reduces waiting times," explains Jörgen Strandberg, Director Fleet Operations Center at Carnival Maritime. "Being even more punctual is a great advantage to us, because the cruise ship will generally have to make up for lost time afterwards. To do so, it will increase its speed and thus its fuel consumption and emissions."

Predictability doesn't just mean saving on fuel and emissions, it also provides advantages for cruise guests. They find out in good time about any adjustments to the travel schedule, and can therefore adapt their activities and enjoy their journey to the fullest.

The HVCC is a central, port-wide coordination center for mega-ship, feeder and inland vessel traffic in the Port of Hamburg. Within the HVCC the NTK department supports port authorities and companies as well as ocean carriers on a smooth traffic of the increasing number of large ships in the Port of Hamburg. "We are very pleased that Carnival Maritime is collaborating with us," states Heinrich Goller, the CEO of HVCC. "The more partners we win for our services, the better we can coordinate the large vessels. It is our goal to recognize potential conflict situations at the river Elbe at an early stage and to make early suggestions to our partners how to avoid the situation.”

The HVCC is a joint venture of the Port of Hamburg's two container-terminal operators, Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) and EUROGATE Container Terminal Hamburg GmbH (CTH).

Contact:
Susanne Becker, Manager Communication Carnival Maritime, pr@carnival-maritime.com, Tel: +49 40/ 302 393 1202
Karl Olaf Petters, HHLA, Pressesprecher; Tel. +49-(0)40-3088-3521
Corinna Romke, EUROGATE, Leiterin Unternehmenskommunikation; Tel. +49-(0)421-1425-3803

You can download the press release and pictures here