Old German ferry is transformed

The 53.6m long and 10.1m wide Koi draws 2.1m and carries up to 650 passengers. She was converted at Husumer Dock & Reparatur (HDR) and now operates as a club-cum-party and event ship either on charter excursions or while moored in North Sea and Baltic ports including Husum, Flensburg, Kiel, Luebeck and Hamburg. Plans are to also use the ferry along the entire German Baltic coast as far as Ruegen and Wismar. Similar ships operate on the Rhine and abroad.

Koi was built in 1980 in Husum as an excursion boat and used for Duty Free excursion trips as Adler and later between Germany and Poland as Adler Dania. North Frisian shipowner Sven Paulsen at Adler Schiffe ordered her conversion and extensive modernisation and refurbishment early this year.

Juliane Peter at Adler Schiffe told Maritime Journal that although much had changed inside, the ship’s engine configuration had remained. Koi is driven by two MWM TBD 602 V 12 twelve-cylinder four-stroke diesels, each of 695kW, over gears and two fixed propellers providing a top speed of 13.2 knots. The ship also has a 100kW bow thruster and carries three gensets each of nominal 140kVA for onboard power as well as an emergency 45 kVA generator.

Interiors have been redesigned with the main and upper decks now extended. The three decks cover 1100m2 of which 250m2 are in the open. Areas have been opened out and guests can move between decks. New sound and lighting equipment as well as seating and conference areas have been installed along with large bars with plenty of space

Classed by German Lloyd as a sea-going ship with an ice-strengthened hull, Koi also underwent regular class work during conversion at HDR. The class work included propulsion and safety equipment renewal. Excursion and ferry ships make up the bulk of HDR business and Koi was just one such caller this year.

Sylt-based Reederei Adler-Schiffe is the biggest operator of excursion and charter ships on the German North Sea and Baltic coasts. It operates more than twenty ships ranging in size from about 15m to 68.4m. The fleet includes the now 110 year-old paddle steamer Freya. Some of Adler’s other ships have also been to HDR this year for regular seasonal overhaul including adaption to new safety and stability regulations now coming into force. Among them have been the 25.2m Adler 11, the 31.7m Adler 1V and the 35.8m long Adler V. Like Koi they were all built at HDR.

By Tom Todd