Nippy duo for German police

The new 8.38m boats – WS 43 and WS 44 – were built by OY Botnia Marin and are the first from that yard to join the Hamburg police fleet. They are described by their makers as robust, capable of operation in high winds and waves up to four metres and able to tackle open-sea conditions.

They are designed for a wide range of jobs on the crowded Elbe River in and around Hamburg and on the port’s maze of rivers and waterways. A main job is to patrol the important Waltershof Harbour district, home to much of Germany’s container traffic. However a recent highlight of a different kind has been duty as escorts for visiting ships of the Chinese Navy.

Hamburg police spokesman Andreas Schoepflin told Maritime Journal the new boats replaced three older auxiliary patrol boats and were notable not only because of their speed and turning abilities but also because of their shallow draughts. That made them particularly useful in shallow waterways, he said.

Carrying crews of two, WS 43 and WS 44 are versions of the Targa 25.1 tailored to operation on Hamburg waterways. The Finnish yard’s well-proven Targa series has evolved since 1979 to take in new technology and styles and is now in its fourth generation.

The Hamburg boats have fibre-glass hulls and are 2.97m wide, 2.2m high and draw 1.1m. Each has fore and aft self draining decks, a transom door and a work platform with a folding ladder. There is also a flybridge steering position and eight plus two seats on deck.

The pilothouse, with a wide passageway around it, has two sliding doors, a U-shaped front seat with storage lockers, a total five seats, a table for four and 2 + 2 pipe berths in an aft cabin.

The newbuilds are each powered by a Volvo Penta D4-260 water-cooled 4-stroke inboard Diesel engine with Z-drive and Commonrail and of 191kW/260hp at 3500 rpm. They have a top speed of 25 knots with three people on board.

Other on-board features include redundant 12V power supply with two gel batteries of 145 Ah each. The boats also have Fisher Panda generators of 3.5kW. Navigation equipment includes, among other things, an AIS Class B transponder, GPS and a charter plotter with 3D capability and 12” display.

The new boats join a Hamburg police fleet of 45 vessels ranging from coastal patrol ships to RIBs. Despite being the first from OY Botnia Marin, Mr Schoepflin told Maritime Journal there were no plans at present to bring in more Targa boats.

By Tom Todd