Finnish workboats stay popular with Germans

Rankwitz was handed over in the port of Ückermünde on the border with Poland. It is for service on the Bay of Szcecin in the Oder Estuary and will monitor both German and Polish fishermen and hobby anglers. Its jobs include crime prevention and pursuit as well as protection of fish stocks and facilities. It can stop, inspect and board boats.

Rankwitz is the first boat to be built by Finnish yard OY Botnia Marin for operators LALLF – the state-run German agency responsible for agriculture and fisheries. The Type Targa 25.1 newbuilding is 8.38m long, 2.88m wide, draws 1.05m and carries maximum eight passengers. It is propelled by a Volvo Penta D6 330 main angine of 246kW with DPH Z gearing

For such a small boat, it also packs a remarkably varied equipment clout. It has an SE60 Side Power bow thruster, a range of Raymarine navigational aids from multi-function display through auto pilot to transducer. Other gear inludes hailing, radio, router and antenna equipment from firms including Standard Horizon, Marco, Cobham Sailor, Varia, Glomex and Alpine.

The Volvo Penta engine on Rankwitz provides a top speed of 36 knots and is clearly a main reason for the acquisition. Officials said that was was nearly twice the speed of its predecessor of the same name, which was also Finnish built at the Sarins Batar shipyard.

The earlier boat, of Type Minor 28 when delivered, was 8.30m long, 2,85m wide and drew 0,80m. It was driven by a Volvo-Penta TAMD 41, 147 kW engine which developed only 20 knots. That, officials noted, was no longer fast enough to tackle modern launches with high-performance outboard motors.

LALLF spokesman Michael Schmitt told Maritime Journal that next year it was planned to replace another boat identical to the older Minor 28 Rankwitz .

He did not say which boat was being replaced out of the current LALLF fleet of eight boats of up to 24.97m length, but there are only two suitable 8.30 candidates – Stralsund and Uecker. They are both of Type Minor 28 and were also delivered by Sarins Batar.

Two other punchier boats from the same Finnish builder, the 8.8m long and 3m wide Barth and Breege, have operated for the LALLF since 2013. Like the Botnia boats, however, they are of 242kW and provide 35 knots.

Rankwitz is the third Botnia Targa 25.1 workboat to enter service this year with German authorities. Hamburg Police got two fast 25 knot boats as the year opened. They are powered by Volvo Penta D4-260 engines.

By Tom Todd