Veteran Bight passenger ship gets extensive revamp

The work was carried out at the Mützelfeldtwerft in Cuxhaven on the Elbe Estuary where the 68.6m long and 10m wide ship was built in 1973. The yard is now part of Bremerhaven’s BREDO Dry Docks but it has serviced Funny Girl regularly over many years.

Corinna Habben, spokeswoman for the AG Ems group to which the ship’s operator Cassen Eils belongs, told Maritime Journal that during the latest yard visit unspecified routine maintenance and repair works but no classification inspections were carried out.

She added however that Funny Girl did undergo a “comprehensive restoration” of its lower deck public areas. Habben said the removal of facilities no longer needed, like a duty-free sales kiosk had created room for 80 more passenger seats.

Praising Mützelfeldtwerft she said “the yard is right on the doorstep, we know each other well and there is familiarity. In addition local craftsmen were involved who have already modernised the ship’s upper deck”, she said.

That was a reference to previous extensive modernisation at Mützelfeldtwerft. In 2017 Funny Girl went in for scheduled repair, maintenance and minor replacement work which ended up as an extensive modernisation.

The main passenger salon was gutted and re-designed and lifeboats were replaced with a modern sea rescue system. The work was aimed at improving ship safety and quality. So was a third conversion in 2008 when Funny Girl’s lower deck windows were replaced by portholes. In often rough service between Büsum on the German mainland and the island of Heligoland, 60kms offshore, the ship now operates officially in winds up to Force 10 and 5m high waves.

Built for 800 passengers and of 1017gt, Funny Girl still has its original propulsion, reported Cassen Eils MD Peter Eesmann. On board are two 16-cylinder MWN diesels of total 2206kW driving fixed propellers and providing a top speed of about 19 knots. However Eesmann said the ship’s original auxiliaries had been replaced by two 6-cylinder, 182kW SISU 74 CT AG units. That swap however was carried out during a previous yard visit.