Eemshaven (Netherlands Groningen)

Eemshaven (aka Ems Harbour) is a North Sea/Baltic Sea port serving the Netherlands' Groningen province and one of the gateways to Groningen City (province's capital) - together with Delfzijl. Port Eemshaven (locode NLEEM) was officially opened in 1973. Groningen Seaports is Eemshaven's port authority/terminal operator. The company provides all standard port services to its industrial and commercial clients, including tugboat assistance, berthing, logistics, infrastructure, site maintenance.

Eemshaven is the homeport/"cruise port" for all newbuilds constructed at MEYER WERFT's shipyard in Papenburg Germany. After leaving Papenburg, each boat navigates in Germany down Ems River to Eemshaven (distance 30 km / 20 mi), from where start the sea trials (for testing the vessel's machinery and systems) before the delivery to the shipowner.

Besides passenger and cargo shipping, at the seaport are also constructed and operational several power plants (electricity-generating facilities), including gas-fired and coal-fired, as well as wind farms/wind turbine parks. Eemshaven is the landfall point for a Northtlantic optical-fiber cable that provides telecom and high-speed data connections between Europe and the USA. In 2014, Google Inc announced plans to invest USD 773 million into a data center in Eemshaven.

Regularly scheduled ferries from Eemshaven link to Borkum Island Germany (since 2013/crossing time ~1 hour) and to Kristiansand Norway (since 2022/crossing time ~18 hours). Departures to Borkum are daily and in the morning (7:30 and 10:15 am) and in the afternoon (1:45 and 4:45 pm).

In August 2019, TEC-Farragon Ltd (2013-founded, registered in Aberfeldy Scotland) announced plans to start a Holland-UK ferry service between Eemshaven and Rosyth-Edinburgh Scotland. The plans included chartering ferries from STENA LINE and daily crossings Netherlands-Scotland.

On November 1, 2021, the startup ferry brand "Holland Norway Lines" (2020-founded) announced a 3-year bareboat charter (through April 2025 + 2x 1-year optional extensions) of Tallink Romantika cruiseferry for the Eemshaven-Kristiansand service.

• The ship's maiden voyage was scheduled for April 7 (2022), leaving out of Eemshaven.
• The boat departs Eemshaven at 3 pm (on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays) and arrives in Kristiansand at 9 am (the following day). The reverse crossing departs Kristiansand at 3 pm (on Wednesdays, Fridays, Sundays).
• Eemshaven provides quick road access to Amsterdam (2 hours), Berlin (6 h), Paris (7 h).
• Kristiansand provides quick road access to Oslo (3,5 hours), Stavanger (4 h), Bergen (8 h).

Holland Norway Lines opened sales on November 3, 2021, with early bird tickets priced at EUR 200 pp.