Anchors away for the “nickoSPIRIT” as river cruise services return to Bavarian waters: The latest addition to Nicko Cruises Schiffsreisen GmbH’s fleet is not only setting off on its first voyage of the 2021 season, but it is also making its maiden voyage.

145 passengers were on board the 170-person capacity ship, with guests primarily from Germany, but also from Austria and Switzerland. The cruise ship is to travel from Frankfurt to Passau, with an almost obligatory stopover at bayernhafen Bamberg to take in the wonderful world heritage site of Bamberg.

The ship laid anchor during stunning summer weather and, whether guest or crew, you could see the joy on the faces of all on board about the pending water-borne voyage. The “nickoSPIRIT” is also expected to call into bayernhafen Passau-Racklau on 17 June. River cruises have been possible in Bavaria since 7 June after the 13^th Bavarian Infection Prevention Ordinance entered into force. In order for hotel ships to dock at bayernhafen’s ports, the Ordinance places a requirement on the cruise ship companies to present a corresponding hygiene concept.

Bamberg, 8 June 2020 – Since the middle of March, the Coronavirus has put tourism – and with it the river cruise sector – on hold. Now, tourists in Germany have started to travel again and enjoy the beauty of Bavaria’s river landscapes. On Friday, 5 June 2020, after a hiatus of around ten weeks, the first river cruise ship – the ‘nickoVISION’ operated by the Stuttgart-based tour operator nicko cruises – called in at bayernhafen Bamberg en route from Straubing to Düsseldorf.

On board the ‘nickoVISION’ were a crew of 31 and 34 passengers, who, due to the travel restrictions that will remain in place until the middle of June, were exclusively tourists from Germany. They were greeted by a team from bayernhafen Bamberg, who naturally paid strict attention to the rules on physical distancing and hygiene. The bayernhafen team presented the passengers with a small souvenir of Franconian wine in a traditional rounded ‘Bocksbeutel’ bottle as well as a bayernhafen keychain in the shape of an anchor. The tourists were then driven by bus to the city centre, where two guides took them on a fascinating tour of the World Heritage City.

“Over the coming weeks and months, people will be re-discovering the beauty of Bavaria,” says the Chief Executive Officer of bayernhafen, Joachim Zimmermann. “This will also help the river cruise sector get back on course. It is a good signal.” As a consequence of the Coronavirus, cruise ship operators are required to submit a suitable hygiene management plan before their hotel ships will be allowed to dock at bayernhafen Bamberg. In 2019, 830 river cruise ships called in at bayernhafen Bamberg; the impact of the Coronavirus will most certainly result in a significantly lower number docking in 2020.

Cargo handling will also resume in the coming days as the port swings back into operation. bayernhafen Bamberg is a cargo and freight hub that connects the regional economy of Upper Franconia to the rest of the world and ensures that long-distance traffic is shifted from the road networks to the environmentally friendly transport modes of inland waterway and rail. The port is home to 70 companies that together provide 1,800 jobs. The importance of efficient supply chains and a robust infrastructure has also become particularly evident in the light of the challenges posed by the Coronavirus. “The people who keep the ‘show on the road’ are in particular those employees whose work cannot be done from home,” says the Chief Executive Officer of bayernhafen, Joachim Zimmermann. “Whether high up in a crane, behind the wheel of a forklift or reach stacker, at the helm of a barge, in the warehouses, in the recycling centres, or indeed anywhere on site – they all deserve our utmost respect.”

28y May 2019 – At 22 metres wide and 135 metres long, the new river cruise ship ‘AmaMagna’ is almost double the size of “traditional” river cruise ships, with their standard width of 11.45 metres. Throughout the 2019 season, the luxurious ‘floating hotel’, operated by the US river cruise company AmaWaterways, will travel on a weekly schedule along the Danube between Vilshofen and Budapest. Ships of this width can not travel on the Main-Danube-Canal due to the size of the locks. Last week, the ‘AmaMagna’ paid its first visit to bayernhafen Passau-Racklau.

The ‘AmaMagna’ lives up to her name: The new luxury cruise ship operated on the Danube by the river cruise company AmaWaterways is impressively large and spacious and equipped with a whole host of features. Over half of the 98 staterooms are between 33 and 66 m² in size and the 196 guests have a choice of four unique restaurants where they can dine. Built in 2019, the floating hotel is powered by an innovative hybrid diesel/electric multi-engine configuration.

When docking at the pier in bayernhafen Passau-Racklau, the captain demonstrated consummate skill, elegantly “parking” the ‘AmaMagna’ at Racklau. Depending on how the mood took them, the guests had a wide variety of guided shore excursions to choose from including  a walk through the historic centre of Passau, a bicycle tour, or visit to the Veste Oberhaus.

With passenger ship piers in Bamberg, Roth, Regensburg and Passau, and a further pier in Aschaffenburg added at the beginning of the year, bayernhafen offers the river cruise sector docking facilities at five locations in Bavaria from a single source. Over 1,900 ‘floating hotels’ laid anchor in 2018, 238 of them at Racklau. bayernhafen Passau-Racklau already provides four berths for river cruise ships. For 2020/21, bayernhafen plans to increase the number of berths to seven, along with electrification and the prospective construction of a terminal building. In Aschaffenburg, bayernhafen is building a dedicated pier for passenger ships on the Main river in order to take pressure off the inner-city piers caused by ship-to-bus transfers.