Hamburg Harbour Birthday of Records

Bright sunshine, more ships than ever before and more than 1.5 million visitors, a good-humored impressive backdrop: The 822nd Hamburg port birthday was a festival of superlatives. Many prominent guests were the biggest port festival in the world come to Hamburg, among them a royal visit from Norway: Crown Prince Haakon had opened the festival on Friday with Mayor Olaf Scholz (SPD). See the highlights of the harbor birthday in our slide show.

Attendance record for Hafengeburtstag

The summer weather and the numerous vessels ensured a new record. "There were so many people there like never before, we are absolutely satisfied, " said spokeswoman Saskia Easter Meier. The celebration was peaceful, police said all three days, there were no major incidents. Even with the departure parade of ships on Sunday evening, the spectators lined the banks of the Elbe crowded. Led by the majestic four-masted barque "Sea Cloud" drove the ships from the port and were adopted by the visitors. One of the stars of the departure parade was "Queen Mary 2, which was since the Sunday morning for a short visit in Hamburg. "We are really only got to see this ship, "said one couple from the North-Western spoof Rheda-Wiedenbruck.

As many ships as ever at the port Birthday

In addition to the "Sea Cloud" and the "Queen Mary 2 provided the other giant floating a stir among the spectators. With the "Kruzenshtern"and the sail training ship "Mir" and "Sedov" this year were three Russian sailing ship in Hamburg as a guest. Even the cruise ships "AIDAblu", "Aidacara","My Ship 2", "Amadea" and the Norwegian expedition ship Fram arrived. Partner country of the port birthday this year was Norway. Crown Prince Haakon was on Friday for a day in Hamburg as a guest and was received enthusiastically. "Surely, Haakon also a reason for the attendance record, " Easter said Meier. The Scandinavian country presented itself to the three hard days on the Kehrwiederspitze. There were culinary specialties, a Viking village and historic ships from Norway to see.

Tug ballet and fireworks

On the water, visitors could marvel at this year as many ships as ever at the harbor's birthday. Above all, the five tall ships and six cruise ships were real eye-catcher. Around 60,000 visitors took the opportunity to visit the ships and to explore up close. "Seeing the state of the art, that's fascinating, " said Guenter Pfau from Heilbronn, after he had visited a ship the Coast Guard. On Saturday, tens of thousands wanted to see the traditional tug ballet. The strong up to 5,000 hp tugs took up the port to turn to classical music and spins in time to sway. The tractor came here quite close to the harbor wall and inject more courageous spectators on the bank wet. Another program highlight was the fireworks on Saturday evening, which appeared in the harbor panorama colorful light. Again, the best seats were in great demand directly to the quays. Already on Friday for about four kilometers long opening parade of ships, tens of thousands of visitors had gathered along the Elbe. More than 200 program points, entertained the visitors at the weekend along the six kilometer long hard mile.