Busy Schleswig-Holstein adds Staberhuk to new police fleet

Built by the Fassmer Werft on the Lower Weser, the 27.2m

Staberhuk,

is operating out of Kappeln south of Flensburg patrolling the Baltic coastline between the Flensburger Fiord and Fehmarn. It replaces the old 26.5m fisheries protection ship

Eidler.

Schleswig-Holstein, often called the land between two seas because of its location between the North Sea to the west and the Baltic to the east, is getting three new types of boat in the run up to 2013 for its work on two coastlines. They will replace most of the state’s current police boats under a newbuild programme worth more than €25m and ranging from port boats to patrol boats and coastal vessels. They are being built by yards in Germany and Finland.

The four coastal patrol boats, which together account for €18m of the cash available, are being completed by Fassmer. It has already built the five crew sister ship Falshöft and also the biggest of the new coastal quartet, the 34.2m Sylt. It is now building the last of the four, another 27.2m boat.

Schleswig-Holstein Interior Minister Rainer Wiegard said the new boats would tackle growing challenges in cooperation with other German coastal states. These included increasing sea traffic, extreme weather because of climate change and the continuing threat of terrorism.

The 6.2m wide Staberhuk has an aluminuium hull and draws 1.6m. It is powered by two MTU 10V 2000 M 72 engines, each of 900kW, with two ZF 3000A gearboxes driving a four blade Schaffran fixed propeller for a speed of 22 knots.

The boat’s equipment includes a Kraeft bow thruster, Raytheon-Anschütz STD 21 and NP 60 SAT compass and self steering equipment, Kelvin Hughes MANTA radar and electronic chart and FURUNO GPS and echolot gear.

By Tom Todd