Klein Fritzchen swells tour fleet
The latest excursion launch to join third-generation family shipping company Rainer Abicht Elbreederei in Hamburg will not be the latest for very long because two further ships are already under build for delivery in just a few months time.
The 33.5m long and 6.5m wide Klein Fritzchen, which draws 1.1m, has just gone into service after completion at Hamburg’s Feltz Werft. It is driven by a low-emission MAN 190kW engine and there is a Schottel rudder propeller in the stern. A 70kW Pumpjet SPJ 22 is installed in the bow and also on board are two generators of 130kvA providing electrical power and power for the Pumpjet.
Abicht now operates 10 big passenger ships and 15 port excursion launches. The biggest ship in the fleet is the 56m stern paddle steamer Louisiana Star, carrying 500 passengers.
The launch Klein Fritzchen, the owner reported, is of a new type to meet modern demands, with stainless steel and glass interior fittings and built to German ZSUK Safety standards. It is also longer and flatter, like other more recent acquisitions, to allow access, even at low tide, to Hamburg’s historic Speicherstadt and up the Alsterfleet. Up to 160 passengers can be seated in the fully-glazed interior salon which boasts a generous 2.6m deck height and where buffets can be laid on for up to 120 persons. There is also seating space on the upper open-air deck. One highlight is a roof of tinted glass which is retractable to two thirds the length of the deck.
Klein Fritzchen is air conditioned and has a humidity reduction plant for summer operation and under floor heating for interior warmth in winter. Amenities include a fully-equipped kitchen and bar facilities.
Rainer Abicht Elbreederei is clearly satisfied with its latest ship and with business in general because it has ordered two more ships for delivery “at the start of 2017”. However the company does not want to release details of those ships at present or say where they are currently being built or exactly when they will enter service.
However, company Sales Head Daniel Naumann told Maritime Journal that the new ships would be similar in type to the firm’s most recently acquired luxury excursion launch Hugo Abicht.
It entered service in 2014, and also has many similarities with Klein Fritzchen. The 146kW Hugo Abicht is also 6.5m wide, draws about the same at 1.1m and has similar interior fitments and equipment.
Unlike Klein Fritzchen however Hugo Abicht is only 20m long and carries just 96 passengers. Also, it was not built at the Feltz Werft but at another Hamburg yard Behrens, which has built and also upgraded a number of Abicht ships in the recent past.
By Tom Todd
