Police spokesman Wolfgang Ketels told MJ the first boat in the new series, Wasserschutzpolizei 31, or WS 31, was for service in the Hamburg Harbour region.

He revealed that it had cost 600,000 to build at the Hermann Barthels Shipyard in Derben.

Ketel had no information about further boat acquisitions but local media said three of the new patrol boats would join the Hamburg force and noticed the attention lavished on the first boat. Its official handover by Barthels was attended not only by the Hamburg Interior Senator but also by local police top brass.

The WS 31 is driven by a MAN D2824 LE, 12 cylinder diesel engine with an output of 420kW at 1,800rpm. Its hull is of ice-strengthened steel and the boat also boasts a bow thruster, hydraulic stern platform and hydraulic mast, an ELNA river radar unit, inland waterways electronic chart, DGPS, AIS and Ultra Shortwave -ATIS police radio. The WS 31 has a maximum complement of up to 12 persons but will generally carry 4 people, the police told MJ.