On December 11, 2024, AIDA Cruises’ super luxury passenger ship M.V. AIDAstella, carrying 2,139 passengers and 640 crew members, made her first port call at the Port of Colombo. The Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), the ship’s master, and local agent Aitken Spence Shipping Ltd. exchanged plaques to commemorate the ship’s first call at the Port of Colombo.
AIDAstella set sail from South Africa, making stops in Port Elizabeth and Durban before continuing on to Mauritius, the Seychelles, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and the Maldives before arriving in Sri Lanka. After that, the cruise will travel to a number of destinations in the Far East, including Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia. The Italian-flagged ship, named Colombo, is sailing from Male, the Maldives, to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, her next stop. Aitken Spence Shipping Ltd. will keep providing cruise lines with all-inclusive, coordinated services that will increase travel to the nation. The company has achieved great heights and is a part of Aitken Spence PLC, the leading conglomerate in Sri Lanka. For example, it has successfully pursued a long-term directional shift from being a service-related operation to becoming an investment-driven one by participating in port efficiency enhancement projects in new markets.
