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Hamburg Embraces River Ferry Innovation
01 Jun 2002
The Hanseatic Port of Hamburg has never shied from innovative means of moving citizens and visiting ships' crews from the south shore harbour area to the beautiful city spread along the river's north shore. Sightseeing tourists and commuting workers are moved by a flotilla of ferries ranging from fine lined, fantail sterned old favourites to the most modern of serious people movers, represented by an innovative new series of boats operated by HADAG Seetouristik und Fahrdienst AG.
These 30m long, 8m beam boats have capacity for 250 passengers, with stowage space for up to 50 bicycles, disabledaccessible hydraulically operated loading ramps, and both enclosed and open seating. Most remarkable is the safe operation of the HADAG ferries by only one person, working from a large enclosed bridge mounted on an arch right aft of the vessel and well above the open second deck.
The wheelhouse has 360º visibility of the open upper deck and can also monitor the enclosed main deck and engine room via CCTV.
HADAG identified their needs and concept and the resulting innovative design came from Dutch naval architect Fred van Den Burg. The superstructure is aluminium to reduce weight, displacement and wake while the beamy steel hull has a shallow draft of only 1.5m. Sound has been kept to 65 decibels or less in passenger areas.
For propulsion, twin open wheeled Rolls Royce/Aquamaster US381 CRP azimuthing drives are mounted in a finely faired hull, with the rounded chine reducing wake while assuring powerful water flow throughout the Z-drives 360º rotation.
Twin 6 cylinder, 14 litre Cummins N14 engines power the Z-drives. The electronically controlled engines give the fast response and power required by the operator in manoeuvring through busy river traffic.
A 75kw Aquamaster bow thruster further enhances dockside manoeuvrability while negating the need for mooring lines and line handlers.
The first HADAG ferry was delivered in 1997 and its Cummins engines have now logged 17,000 trouble-free hours.
Cummins also meets the boats electrical needs with a pair of 6BT-powered 75 kw generators.
Hamburg's ferry system handled 2 million passengers in 1996 before the first HADAG ferry arrived. The figure doubled to 4 million for 2001, with 2.5 million of those carried on the HADAG route. With bright colour schemes, including some advertising to help keep prices low, these work-a-day people carriers are winning strong support from both tourists and commuters.
MJ Information No: 17140
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