the current port of rio de janeiro was inaugurated over 100 years ago, in 1910, and became a major factor in the growth of the city - the port welcomed the first ship in that same year, which was the english horace, and now receives over a thousand ships a year, with cruise ships alone bringing an estimated 500,000 visitors to the city.

rio de janeiro is now one of the most important cruise ship destinations in latin america, as a large number of companies have it listed as one of their destinations - the busiest time of year, as for many tourist attractions in the city, is during carnival, when huge numbers of cruise ships anchor at the port - in 2012, an astonishing 37 ships stopped there for the event, bringing with them an incredible 86,000 passengers.