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Increased traffic pressure in Nordhavn due to cruise season

A record number of guests are expected with up to 25,000 guests per day at the cruise ship terminals in Copenhagen and Nordhavn. Traffic in the city and at the airport will be affected.

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By Bente D. Knudsen

The traffic in Nordhavn will surge on the days that cruise ships are at quay at Oceania Kaj, the name of the quay of the cruise ship terminal in Nordhavn. Also Langelinie Quay is popular, and on some days all quays in Copenhagen are in use in order to meet the demand.

With an expected record number of cruise ships in Copenhagen in 2019, the impact on the traffic in the area around Nordhavn and Langelinie will again this year be huge.

A total of 350 cruise ships, 13 more compared to 2018, will increase the amount of cruise ship guests by 100,000, bringing the total number to 980,000 cruise ship guests travelling to or from Copenhagen during the 2019 cruise ship season.

Of the 350 ships arriving, up to 60 of them have a total passenger capacity of over 4,000, and on the busiest days, almost 25,000 cruise ship passengers will be in Copenhagen on the same day.

According to By and Havn (the owners and property developers of Nordhavn), selected days in the Nordhavn area will be hard hit.

Traffic is affected both by arriving cruise guests and the ongoing development and building of Nordhavn and the new Metrostation.

On an average day, 350 trucks traverse the area to deliver earth to the different land fill sites. Especially Sundkrogsgade, the only access road to Nordhavn will have heavy traffic.

Also take note, that Copenhagen Airport has warned that during days of many cruise ship passengers leaving at the same time, the waiting lines, and thus time to get through the security area, increases massively, and travellers should take note of this during the summer.

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By and Havn say that they are cooperating closely with the City of Copenhagen, the Copenhagen Police Department and Copenhagen Malmö Port to ensure as smooth a passage of traffic as possible.

Weekends are not as affected, as on these days the building sites and offices are closed. A great time to visit the area.

Updated lists of arriving cruise ships can be found at the site of CMP ( Copenhagen Malmo Port) here  

You can use the list to see if any of the days you are travelling from Copenhagen airport are days with many cruise ship passengers, or on days when you need to go to Nordhavn to be aware of increased traffic pressure there.

These weekdays and weekends are already predicted to be very busy:

May: 12, 13 19, 21, 26, 28

June: 1, 6, 9, 16, 22, 24

July: 6, 13, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27,31

August: 3, 8, 9, 14, 16, 17, 18, 24, 29, 30, 31

September: 3, 4