OREANDA-NEWS. August 14, 2015. AIDA Cruises, Germany’s market leader for cruise holidays, is the first Gold-Partner of TEAM HAMBURG 2016. This was announced by the company during a press conference attended by Hamburg’s First Mayor, Olaf Scholz. In one year’s time numerous Hamburg athletes will be doing battle for medals at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).

“We travel the world’s oceans with our ships but for AIDA, Hamburg is always a home port. That is why we are delighted to support the athletes of TEAM HAMBURG 2016 in fulfilling their great dream of the 2016 Olympics in Rio,” says Hansj?rg Kunze, Vice President Communication AIDA Cruises, and a medal winner at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul.

Furthermore the company is promoting Hamburg’s bid to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2024.

“AIDA is all fired up for Hamburg”: At 6:00 p.m. on August 15, 2015 AIDAbella will set sail from Steinwerder, passing the Elbphilharmonie concert hall, with an 80-meter-long and 5-meter-wide banner attached to its railing – to promote Hamburg’s bid.

AIDA Cruises is ready for the Olympic Games in Hamburg. Back in 2004 an AIDA cruise ship was already at the Olympic Games as the “German ship”. For the duration of the entire Games, AIDAaura was anchored at the port of Piraeus, and was the official meeting point of Germany’s Olympic family.

The cruise company already operates one of the world’s most state-of-the-art fleets. Its current fleet of ten ships is operated in accordance with the highest international standards of quality, eco-friendliness and safety. In preparing its ships for onshore power and the use of LNG (liquefied natural gas), AIDA Cruises has already introduced trailblazing concepts for supplying cruise ships at the port of Hamburg with eco-friendly power. The AIDA fleet will increase to 14 ships by 2020. With its new ships, which will be commissioned in 2019 and 2020, AIDA Cruises will realize the concept of “green cruising” for the first time. It will be the world’s first cruise operator to power its new generation of ships solely with LNG. This means that soot and sulfur dioxide emissions will be completely eliminated. As Hansj?rg Kunze points out, “This is an important contribution towards sustainable Games in Hamburg.”