New boats up Rhine police clout
A powerful new 17.3m patrol boat has joined the German police fleet monitoring international shipping along 900kms of the central Rhine and its linked canals, reports Tom Todd.
WSP 11 was handed over for Rhine service out of Emmerich, on the border with the Netherlands in northwest Germany.
Emmerich is part of a 900kms long North Rhine-Westphalia waterways police (WSP) district. It covers the Rhine from the Dutch border to Duisburg and includes the Dortmund-Ems, Weser- Datteln and Rhine-Herne canals.
Police spokesman Stefan Hausch told Maritime Journal WSP 11 was the third of four modern newbuilds being introduced to replace boats now more than 20 years old.
Identical sister WSP 12 was already patrolling the Rhine out of Duisburg after completion last year. The first of two planned, smaller 13.86m patrol boats, WSP 15, was also already in operation out of Münster and monitoring canal shipping traffic as a sister was being built, Hausch reported.
All four new boats are from Siemer Yachservice in Hunte/Ems and are among more than a dozen built by that yard for police in several German states.
WSP 11 is 17.3m loa, 4.4m wide, draws max.1.25m and is powered by two six-cylinder FPT 2004/26/EC marine turbo engines Type C87ENTM 62.11(C90-620). Each engine is of 331kW output and between them provide an impressive 50kms/hour.
The two smaller Siemer 13.8 canal monitoring newbuilds are 4m wide and draw max.1.10m. They are also powered by two six-cylinder FPT 2004/26/EC marine turbo engines of a different Type N67ENTM 45.10. Each is of 257kW output and together provide 45 kms/hour.
Hausch said the technology on WSP 11 was very different to that on previous police boats. He gave no details but reports spoke of unspecified radar, camera and sonar technology. The old boats also had steel hulls with aluminium superstructures whereas the new ones were all-aluminium, Hausch added. He also mentioned that a new livery was being introduced gradually.
Stefan Hausch told Maritime Journal in early June that still more police boats were planned. He gave no details but said an invitation to tender was in preparation. Currently the fleet of the North Rhine-Westphalia WSP consists of ten canal patrol and 12 Rhine patrol boats along with two small boats on trailers.
