First Cruise Liner Docks in St.Petersburg's New Port

Although the construction of the new passenger port in St.Petersburg is far from finished (in fact, it won't be finished until at least 2011), the first cruise liner, the 292-meter long Costa Mediterranea, docked at a recently completed terminal on September 10th.

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Costa Mediterranea cruise ship. Photo: Wikipedia. St.Petersburg was the liner's last stop on a 3-day tour of Baltic capitals organized by the Italian cruise company Costa Crociere.

The opening of the terminal marks the end of the first phase of construction of the new passenger seaport. The phase included the terminal building and two landing berths for cruise liners. Another berth will be operational in 2008, followed by three in 2009 and two in 2010.

Upon the completion of the project dubbed the "Marine Façade of St.Petersburg", planned for 2011, the new port will comprise seven cruise liner berths and will be able to welcome up to 12,000 cruise passengers a day.