Carnival Corporation officially began construction of the industry’s first cruise ship terminal in Japan, situated at the Port Sasebo, with an official ceremony attended by the government, community, and business representatives.
As part of a partnership agreement signed in March last year with the city of Sasebo and MLIT Japan, the corporation will build and operate the new cruise terminal, expected to open summer 2020. The partners in the development project are currently working together on contemporary design for the terminal in order to accommodate Carnival’s existing and newest vessels.
Under the 20-year agreement, the corporation and its cruise line brands are granted berthing preference, enabling them to provide passengers with optimized itineraries when visiting the cruise port.
Japan is a popular destination for 7 of Carnival Corporation’s brands, including AIDA, Costa, Cunard, Holland America, P&O, Princess, Seabourn. Overall, Carnival is expecting to handle ~2 million passenger movements in 2019, with nearly 800 visits from 15 liners from the corporation’s brands to 50+ Japanese seaports.