Port Bruges, Zeebrugge welcomes over 140 cruise ships per year, bringing around 400,000 passengers to discover the tourist attractions Belgium and Flanders have to offer.
Zeebrugge currently serves as a transit call but via the help of the city of Bruges it will be capable to provide soft and full turnaround opportunities.
Zeebrugge Cruise Terminal was inaugurated on June 15. It is part of a series of new services that are available through the construction of multi-purpose ABC-Tower. Both lower floors and the top floor will be used to allow transit and turnaround passengers a smooth terminal experience.
The building is situated a few hundred meters from the quay, next to the marina. Complimentary port shuttle buses will be transporting passengers between the gangway of the ships and the cruise terminal.
Security services will be available, such as luggage scanning, walk-through detectors, 4 lines for hand luggage screening/scanning.
Turnaround capacity is set at a thousand passengers. The use of additional marquee will increase the number. The cruise building terrain will feature both publicly accessible zones and secured ISPS zones, including a 6,000 m2 (65,000 ft2) staging area to organise transport to/from the cruise terminal. The taxi lane will be able to accommodate 19 taxis. Public transport is also available close by.
Cruise passengers, crew and officers will be welcome on the ground floor, featuring separate arrival/departure areas, information counters, check-in facilities, a gift shop and toilets. Free wifi is available throughout. The first floor of the building (1,600m2) has a waiting lounge for departing passengers as well as a separate crew lounge. Many video screens, including a large video wall, will feature continuous imagery of region's tourist attractions.
The Port of Zeebrugge is working very closely together with Brussels Airport in order to offer cruise companies an integrated air-sea policy.