PORT OF KIEL GENERATES
ECONOMICAL EFFECTS.

We are to be noticed.

We who live in Kiel know this latent pride we feel when thinking of our port city. Who else can enjoy the view of the big ferries sailing to Scandinavia or the view of the cruise liners that berth right in the city centre from the pedestrian zone? A job with a view of the port, a dream for many of us, for others it is almost daily business. Almost, because you never really lose sight of the special port atmosphere.

But don’t you want to know how many people employed in the area of the Kiel Fjord actually work in the port? Or how many jobs are affected by the overall port operations? How many jobs, in turn, depend on the money spent by those who are employed directly or indirectly in the port? And how much revenue is generated for the region every year by the many voyagers and tourists visiting this region? Good questions which we handed over to Hamburg Port Consulting (HPC) for analysis.

Study
The aim of the study “Economical effects of the port of Kiel” was to gain a reliable assessment of the economic effects of the port of Kiel regarding employment, turnover and added value on a regional as well as supra-regional basis. The study focused on the direct port industry and the expenses by passengers and crew members. The effects of the Kiel Canal, the shipyards and the navy have not been examined as part of this paper. The figures of the elicitation are based on the data for 2017 which was collected directly for the port operations sector. For the tourism sector projections were made based on figures from previous studies. Don’t worry, you don’t have to hold a degree in economics in order to understand the results.

Employment effects
A total of 3,884 employees work in the port of Kiel or indirectly are affected by the overall port operations as suppliers, building  contractors or as providers of other preliminary work. 2,550 of these are related to port operations, the other 1,334 are related to the touristic sector. If you add the induced job effects generated by the consumption of these above mentioned people, you will get a total of 4,579 employees whose livelihood depends on the port of Kiel. Out of the aforementioned total, 3,043 employees belong to the port operations and 1,536 to the tourism sector.
 

Chart: Based on data of Hamburg Port Consulting (HPC)

Passenger spending
The total consumer spending of the 1.6 million ferry passengers of the port of Kiel amounts to more than 53 million Euros. Another 15 million Euros are added to that by cruise passengers’ and crew’s expenditure. This is a sum of over 68 million Euros pouring into the local retailers’ coffers. Out of these, 10 million Euros are related to hotel expenses by passengers who stay in Schleswig-Holstein before or after their cruise.
 

Chart: Based on data of Hamburg Port Consulting (HPC)

Revenue effects
Even more impressive are the revenue effects of the companies depending directly and indirectly on the port of Kiel – touristic effects omitted: They amount to 360 million Euros per annum. If you include any further induced revenue, the port of Kiel generates about 422 million Euros of revenue effects every year on a regional as well as supra-regional scope. If you add the revenue effects based on the tourism expenditure of ferry and cruise passengers, the port of Kiel generates about 559 million Euros in total. Out of this sum, about 343 million Euros remain in the region of Kiel. You can see that the port of Kiel is a key economic driver in Kiel and far beyond the borders of the state of Schleswig-Holstein. It is this that needs to be expanded carefully, this that needs to be developed further in a partner-like manner together with all players and this that needs to be put on a sound foundation. We are already doing exactly that through continuously expanding the port of Kiel and developing the Blue Port spirit further.