(With extra pictures) With 450,000 visitors, this year’s World Port Days attracted an extra 50,000 visitors compared to last year. Hugo Dill visited the festivities and caught them on camera.
The Rotterdam World Port Days kicked off Friday, 6 September, with demonstrations at the Erasmus Bridge, excursions in the port and several activities in the city centre. In total, 25,000 people booked an excursion to a company, building or scenic area in and around the port.
JSS Karel Doorman
Several ships visited Rotterdam and were open to the public. The JSS Karel Doorman, the Royal Netherlands Navy’s newest and largest ship, drew 20,000 visitors. All through Sunday, there was a 200 metre line with people waiting to visit the ship.
Colourful Port
The event was formally closed on board the Loodswezen’s Pollux, where representatives of the city of Rotterdam, the Royal Netherlands Navy and the Port of Rotterdam held speeches. During the closing ceremony, flyboard-artists held op the “Colourful Port”, “Colourful City” and “Colourful Navy” banners, in the context of this year’s theme: Colourful Port.
Below an album with pictures of the activities taken by SWZ Maritime editor Hugo Dill. Please click the pop-out link (the little squares at the bottom right), to view the pictures in their proper dimensions.
Picture above: The most popular attraction of the World Port Days 2014: the Royal Netherlands Navy's new ship, the Karel Doorman.
