First ship at the Mega pier Tula

Published on December 6, 2017

The Adventure of the Seas was the first ship to moor on November 13th 2017 at the new mega pier, Tula.

The Adventure of the Seas was the first ship to moor on November 13th 2017 at the new mega pier, Tula. After the groundbreaking ceremony that took place last February, the construction of the second pier started full speed ahead. Now, that the pier is ready to receive the scheduled cruise ships for this season, Curaçao Ports Authority (CPA) will continue with the logistics and beautification of the surroundings. This includes additional dolphins at the Tula pier which will make it possible to moor the largest vessels on the market. CPA will organize a grand opening of the Tula pier at the beginning of 2018.

At the soft opening of the pier, Mr. Steven Martina, Minister of Economic Development, Mrs. Zita Jesus-Leito, Minister of Traffic, Transportation and Urban planning, the President of the Supervisory Board of Directors of CPA Mr. Irving Moenir Alam, CPA Director Mr. Humberto de Castro, CCO and COO of CPA Mr. R. Manotas and Mr. A. Zwueste, Harbor Master Mr. Marlon La Roche, Mr. Hugo Clarinda Director at Curaçao Tourist Board, Mrs. Evelyne Kruithof Director at APC and other guests went aboard of the Adventure of the Seas to meet the captain for a small ceremony where this historical day was celebrated.

With the construction of the second Mega pier, Curaçao Ports Authority lays an important foundation to further contribute to the economic development of Curaçao. The Tula Mega pier not only expands the capacity to receive more cruise ships, but we can now also moor the largest cruise vessels on the market. We are currently receiving approximately 600k cruise visitors per year. With the addition of the 2nd Mega pier, CPA is aiming to accommodate approximately 1 million passengers yearly. CPA monitors two important performance indicators, the number of cruise tourists who visit the island and the average expenditure while on the island. The average expenditure of the visiting tourist is approximately USD 75. Our aim is to increase the total number of visitors to one million per year and in cooperation with CTB and other stakeholders increase the average expenditure to USD 100. This can lead to a yearly direct contribution of USD 100 million to our local economy by the cruise sector.

The next phase of this project is the development of the Rif area. Curaçao Ports Authority is currently working on an implementation plan which will include, not only the surroundings of the Tula pier, but also the Rif baseball stadium and the public swimming pool facilities.