Fireworks Hamburg Port Anniversary, follow the Port Livecam: www.hamburg.de/livecam-hafen/
World’s greatest port festival is set to take place from 9 to 11 May! Giants of the oceans, traditional ships, breathtaking tall ships as the German three-masted bark Alexander von Humbolt II as well as the impressive Dutch three-masted topsail schooner Gulden Leeuw will grace the Hamburg Port Anniversary 2014 turning the Port of Hamburg and the famous Landungsbrücken (Landing Stage) into a complete sea of masts. 7 May 1189 was the date when Emperor Frederick Barbarossa issued a charter to the citizens of Hamburg, granting freedom from customs duties for ships on the River Elbe from the city all the way to the North Sea. That charter signalled the birth of the Port of Hamburg, and its 825th anniversary will be celebrated in 2014 as a maritime festival of superlatives with more than 300 vessels from all over the world and more than a million attended visitors. The annual German port festival opens with the Grand arrival parade on Friday 4 pm featuring the 108.8 m long sail training ship Dar Mlodziezy, the Cap San Diego museum ship and many many more making maritime enthusiast’s dream come true! In total, twelve cruise ships will visit the Hanseatic City of Hamburg, including the ship ‘MS Deutschland’ (in Germany especially known from a popular television series), ‘Mein Schiff 1′, Queen Mary’s 2 sister ship ‘Queen Elizabeth’ and the AIDA Club Ships AIDAluna, AIDAsol und the 2013-launched AIDAstella.
Our insider tip: Follow the Hamburg Ship Tracker and see the positions of all participating port anniversary ships in realtime. Another Highlight will be the traditional Tugboat ballet on Saturday from 5 to 6 pm followed in the evening by big fireworks at Hamburg Port starting at 10.30 pm! If you can’t join the nautical Hamburg Event 2014, we recommend to follow the nautical festival via Hamburg Port LIVESTREAM! Grand Highlight on Sunday will be the Grand Departure Parade starting at 5 pm. This year again, the Open Ship programme will attract many visitors as well as the varying opportunities to sail on a traditional tall ship as the famous Eye of the Wind brigg. And if you want to dress up the nautical way, set sail to the official Gaastra E-Store to get your nautical look by Gaastra! Ahoy!