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Hafengeburtstag (lit. Harbour Birthday, Port Anniversary) is an annual public festival and funfair in Hamburg, Germany. It takes place mostly on the first weekend of May to celebrate the anniversary of the port of Hamburg, the largest in Germany. In 2019, the 830th birthday was celebrated and a new record was set; more than a million spectators, among them many tourists from abroad, visited the city. [1]
The attractions of the Hafengeburtstag extend from Kehrwiederspitze near the Speicherstadt in the east to the Fish Auction Hall near Fischmarkt (Fish market) in the west. Many sailing vessels, tall ships among them, are tied up there, mostly at the Landungsbrücken (St. Pauli Piers). Vessels like Mir, Sea Cloud, Sedov, Gorch Fock and many others regularly visit Hamburg for the celebrations, also naval and cruise ships. The music festival Hafenrock takes place there on several stages, frequently including international artists.
In 2016, the cruise ship of AIDAprima was christened at the Hafengeburtstag celebrations on 7 May. [2]
The Hafengeburtstag dates back to Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, who issued a charter to Hamburg merchants on 7 May 1189, granting freedom from customs duties for ships sailing the Elbe from Hamburg to the North Sea. [3] So on the weekend of or around 7 May the anniversary is annually celebrated. The modern public festival takes place since 1977.
USS Sampson (DDG-102) is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in the United States Navy. Funding for the Flight IIA ship was authorized in 2002 and her keel was laid on 20 March 2005. She is the fourth US Navy ship named to honor Rear Admiral William T. Sampson.
The Port of Hamburg is a seaport on the river Elbe in Hamburg, Germany, 110 kilometres (68 mi) from its mouth on the North Sea.
GTS Radiance of the Seas is a cruise ship owned and operated by Royal Caribbean International. She is the lead ship of the Radiance class, which includes Jewel of the Seas, Brilliance of the Seas and Serenade of the Seas. All of the Radiance-class ships have a gas turbine powertrain, which produces higher efficient speeds than other cruise ships, and emissions to the air are much lower than cruise ships powered by diesel engines.
Alexander von Humboldt is a German sailing ship originally built in 1906 by the German shipyard AG Weser at Bremen as the lightship Reserve Sonderburg. She was operated throughout the North and Baltic Seas until being retired in 1986. Subsequently, she was converted into a three masted barque by the German shipyard Motorwerke Bremerhaven and was re-launched in 1988 as Alexander von Humboldt. In 2011 the ship was taken off sail-training and sent to the Caribbean for the charter business, then she was converted to a botel.
MS Freedom of the Seas is a cruise ship operated by Royal Caribbean International. She is the namesake of Royal Caribbean's Freedom class, and can accommodate 3,634 passengers and 1,300 crew on fifteen passenger decks. The vessel also has 4 crew decks below the waterline. Freedom of the Seas was the largest passenger ship ever built from 2006 until construction of her sister ship, Liberty of the Seas in 2007.
Diamond Princess is a British-registered cruise ship owned and operated by Princess Cruises. She began operation in March 2004 and primarily cruises in Asia during the northern hemisphere summer and Australia during the southern hemisphere summer. She is a subclassed Grand-class ship, which is also known as a Gem-class ship. Diamond Princess and her sister ship, Sapphire Princess, are the widest subclass of Grand-class ships, as they have a 37.5-metre beam, while all other Grand-class ships have a beam of 36 metres. Diamond Princess and Sapphire Princess were both built in Nagasaki, Japan, by Mitsubishi Industries.
SMS Bremen was the lead ship of the seven-vessel Bremen class of light cruisers, built for the German Kaiserliche Marine in the early 1900s. She and her sister ships were ordered under the 1898 Naval Law that required new cruisers be built to replace obsolete vessels in the fleet. The design for the Bremen class was derived from the preceding Gazelle class, utilizing a larger hull that allowed for additional boilers that increased speed. Bremen was armed with a main battery of ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns and had a top speed of 22 knots.
Norwegian Epic is a cruise ship of the Norwegian Cruise Line built under NCL's F3 Project by the STX Europe Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France. When built she was the third largest cruise ship in the world.
MS Queen Elizabeth (QE) is a cruise ship of the Vista class operated by the Cunard Line. The design is modified compared to earlier ships of the same class, and slightly larger than Queen Victoria, at 92,000 GT. This is due to a more vertical stern, and additional cabins for single travelers. The bow of Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria are both reinforced having thicker than the standard for hull plating, to handle North Atlantic weather. The ship is able to carry up to 2,092 passengers.
AIDA Cruises is a German cruise line founded in the early 1960s and organized as a wholly owned subsidiary of Costa Crociere S.p.A., which in turn belongs to Carnival Corporation & plc. Based in Rostock, Germany, AIDA Cruises caters primarily to the German-speaking market; as seagoing "club resorts", AIDA ships have on-board amenities and facilities designed to attract younger, more active vacationers. As of September 2023, the cruise line operates 11 ships.
Jadran is a sailing ship for basic naval training built for the Yugoslav Royal Navy and currently in Montenegrin Navy service. A three-mast topsail schooner or barquentine with an auxiliary engine, Jadran was built in Hamburg, Germany between 1930 and 1933, and commissioned on 19 August 1933. Prior to World War II she completed seven long training cruises with trainees from the Yugoslav Naval Academy, including one to North America. As Yugoslavia was neutral at the outbreak of World War II, Jadran was able to conduct short cruises in the Adriatic Sea. In April 1941, Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis powers, and Jadran was captured and renamed Marco Polo by the Italian Navy. She continued to be used as a training ship in the Adriatic, operating out of the Istrian port of Pola, and was featured in an Italian propaganda film.
MSC Magnifica is a Musica-class cruise ship operated by MSC Cruises. Constructed by STX Europe in Saint-Nazaire, the ship was launched in January 2009, completed in January 2010, and entered service in March 2010.
Ada Foah is a town on the southeast coast of Ghana, where the Volta River meets the Atlantic Ocean. The town is located along the Volta River, off of the Accra-Aflao motorway. Known for palm-lined beaches and estuary islands, Ada Foah is also the capital of the Ada East District and the seat of the District Assembly.
The World Port Days, also known as the World Harbour Days, is a large, festive maritime event held annually in Rotterdam. It is one of the most highly attended events in the Netherlands.
SMS Hamburg was the second member of the seven-vessel Bremen class of light cruisers, built for the German Kaiserliche Marine in the early 1900s. She and her sister ships were ordered under the 1898 Naval Law that required new cruisers be built to replace obsolete vessels in the fleet. The design for the Bremen class was derived from the preceding Gazelle class, utilizing a larger hull that allowed for additional boilers that increased speed. Named for the city of Hamburg, the ship was armed with a main battery of ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns and had a top speed of 22 knots.
SMS Berlin was the second member of the seven-vessel Bremen class of light cruisers, built for the German Kaiserliche Marine in the early 1900s. She and her sister ships were ordered under the 1898 Naval Law that required new cruisers be built to replace obsolete vessels in the fleet. The design for the Bremen class was derived from the preceding Gazelle class, utilizing a larger hull that allowed for additional boilers that increased speed. Named for the German capital of Berlin, the ship was armed with a main battery of ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns and had a top speed of 22 knots.
SMS Stein was a Bismarck-class corvette built for the German Imperial Navy in the late 1870s. The ship was named after the Prussian statesman Heinrich Friedrich Karl vom und zum Stein. She was the sixth member of the class, which included five other vessels. The Bismarck-class corvettes were ordered as part of a major naval construction program in the early 1870s, and she was designed to serve as a fleet scout and on extended tours in Germany's colonial empire. Stein was laid down in 1878, launched in September 1879, and was commissioned into the fleet in October 1880. She was armed with a battery of twelve 15 cm (5.9 in) guns and had a full ship rig to supplement her steam engine on long cruises abroad.
Seven Seas Explorer is an Explorer-class cruise ship currently operated by Regent Seven Seas Cruises, a subsidiary of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings. Debuting in 2016, she became the first new-build ship for Regent in more than a decade and the largest ship to ever operate for Regent.
SMS Charlotte was a German screw corvette built for the Kaiserliche Marine in the 1880s, being laid down in April 1883, launched in September 1885, and commissioned in November 1886. The only vessel of her class, Charlotte was the last sailing warship built for the German navy. She was armed with a battery of eighteen 15 cm (5.9 in) guns.
AIDAprima is the flagship of AIDA Cruises, built by Mitsubishi Shipbuilding at their shipyard in Nagasaki, Japan. The cruise ship entered service on April 25, 2016, after suffering several construction delays. She is the first AIDA vessel not to be built in Meyer Werft since the completion of AIDAaura in 2003. She is also the first Carnival Corporation & plc vessel to be built in Mitsubishi since the completion of the Sapphire Princess in 2004.