New boat for Lübeck Port fire-fighters

Costing €3.2 million, the 19.4m x 6.4 m boat is being built inland at Neckar Bootsbau Ebert for completion expected next year. It will replace the 26.8m x 5.5m veteran Senator Emil Peters – in service for nearly half a century. An official report on that old ship in 2018 said it was no longer able to meet the challenges of modern port fire-fighting. “Facilities and also shipbuilding have moved on considerably”, the report concluded.

In addition, the old ship’s draught of 1.8m is seen as too great to help small craft in shallow waters. Annual maintenance costs are also too high at €150,000 last year.

Spokesman Lars Walther told Maritime Journal: “the new fire-fighting boat is needed, as an economic and operational replacement for Senator Emil Peters”.

Officials at one point earmarked €1.7 million for a support fireboat but then decided it would not be big or powerful enough. The boat now under build will be smaller than the Senator Emil Peters but much-better equipped and will draw just 0.8m, making it capable of shallow water operation.

When it was ordered, officials stipulated pumping power capable of getting water to ships up to 40m high. It would, they added, also have “a new form of engine technology to meet the strictest emission standards” and “be a ship with the highest standards of technical expertise”.

However, many of the details of the final newbuilding, including types and makers of components, had still not been released as this report was written. But data made available to Maritime Journal by the Lüebeck Fire Brigade lists two 580kW MAN main engines providing 20 knots, two water jet drives and an hydraulic folding crane of 500kg lifting capacity and 9m outreach. Also unidentified are on-board fire extinguishing equipment including two centrifugal pumps, a foam pump and monitors for 20,000, 10,000 and 1,500l/min fire extinguishing systems .

Lübeck last year handled about 24 million tons overall, most of it by leading port operator the Lübecker Hafen Gesellschaft (LHG). RoRo, vehicles, forest products and containers are the main customers. Nearly 300 ships call every week.