New paddleboat for longest fjord

The 43.75 m long and 8.3m wide Schlei Princess replaces a 35m long and 6.8m wide authentic namesake built in Finland in 1993. It served on the Schlei Fjord, on the border between Germany and Denmark, for more than a decade after being acquired in 2000 by Reisedienst Mueller in Kappeln.

“We would have had to extensively renovate this ship”, owner Gerda Mueller was quoted as saying. “So, after a lot of thought we decided to have a new one built instead”.

It was built at the Schiffswerft Bolle in Derben on the Elbe and outfitted in Lauenburg and Hamburg. Experience gained from the design and operation of the old paddle-boat went into the new one – among other things the similarly sized 5m diameter paddle-wheel and a passenger seating capacity of 200 inside and a further 250 on two open decks.

Increased length and width however meant the new boat has more space than the old one. The owners said a major improvement in design was the absence of support pillars throughout the lower salon. The additional open space meant the ship can better serve not only as a chartered event or excursion ship but also as a berthed restaurant and event location in the winter months when most excursion boats are laid up.

Reisediendt Mueller spokesman Hans-Juergen Ehrlich told Maritime Journal the new Schlei Princess is powered by a Volvo D13 MH main engine driving an SRP 200. Two Volvo D7 auxiliary Diesels drive Meccalte ECP 34 -2 generators of 92kW and the boat also had a Schottel Pumpjet 22. At a reported 9.5 knots, the newbuilding is also nearly 50% faster than the old and at the same time consumes a third less fuel.

The captain of the new Schlei Princess, Ehrlich Mueller, was quoted as saying he was “completely satisfied” with it. The yard had done a great job in building the ship exactly the way the firm wanted, he said, adding he was particularly pleased with the 600hp engine capacity and speed. The newbuild’s manoeuvrability was also much better than that of the old ship, he said.

Because of a low draught of just 1.5m, the new Schlei Princess can sail the full 40km length of the Schlei Fjord at low tide from the Baltic coast to the city of Schleswig – a route which has many small bays and inlets. Her main area of operation however will be in the harbour of Kappeln and between Kappeln and Maasholm at the mouth of the Schlei Fjord.

By Tom Todd