Cruise ships as student housing in Copenhagen have been proposed by Jakob Næsager, the city’s Children and Youth Mayor (børne- og ungdomsborgmester), as a temporary response to the shortage of affordable accommodation around the start of the academic year. Næsager, a Conservative politician and member of Copenhagen’s municipal executive, wants privately operated ships to host students for about three months, but a Danish maritime engineer has questioned both the cost and practicality of the idea.
Cruise ships as student housing for three months
Næsager told DR’s P1 Morgen that Copenhagen faces a particularly acute shortage of student accommodation during the first months after the summer intake.
His proposal is to bring available passenger ships to Copenhagen and use their cabins as temporary rooms until places become available in halls of residence on land.
“My proposal is that we get hold of some cruise ships that can be used as student housing for three months, until dormitory rooms become available on land,” Næsager said.
According to Næsager, Copenhagen’s shortage of student rooms is particularly concentrated in the first three months after the beginning of the academic year. After that period, he said, more accommodation becomes available.
He argued that current conditions in the cruise industry could make some ships available, pointing to high fuel prices and the war in the Middle East.
Næsager has not provided an estimate of how much the scheme would cost. He said the price would depend on the type of ship and the terms under which it could be chartered.
An engineer says floating student housing could be expensive
Hans Otto Kristensen, a consulting marine engineer who has worked on many Danish ferry projects, told DR that the proposal was not sufficiently thought through.
Cruise ships contain far more than cabins, he noted, including restaurants, cafeterias, swimming pools and other facilities whose costs would still have to be covered even if the vessel were mainly being used for accommodation.
Operating a stationary ship would also involve port fees, access to shore power and the cost of chartering the vessel itself.
Kristensen estimated that the monthly cost for students could reach between DKK 15,000 and 20,000 (€2,000-€2,675) for a cabin of around ten square metres.
“This will not be a cheap solution, quite the opposite,” he told DR.
Næsager says smaller ships could work
Næsager rejected the assumption that his proposal would necessarily involve large and expensive cruise ships with thousands of cabins and extensive leisure facilities.
Instead, he said smaller vessels could be more suitable, including ships normally operating in the Mediterranean that are temporarily not in use.
His preferred option would have substantially fewer facilities and around 100 cabins, rather than the thousands found on some of the largest cruise vessels.
Næsager also pointed to the Covid-19 pandemic, when unused cruise ships were offered to Copenhagen Municipality for temporary use.
For the proposal to move forward, however, private operators would need to provide the ships and manage the accommodation. No operator, vessel or financing model has yet been identified.
The idea therefore remains at an early stage, while Copenhagen continues to face its recurring shortage of affordable student accommodation at the beginning of the academic year.
