Car ferry Konstanz – Meersburg
The car ferry Konstanz – Meersburg has been operating between the Constance district of Staad and the city of Meersburg since September 1928 . It was planned and financed by the city of Konstanz and is still operated today by the Konstanz municipal utilities . The line connects Constance, which is bounded by Lake Constance, with the Linzgau and, in the wider catchment area, the north and south banks of Lake Constance along the federal road 33 . In addition to cars and commercial vehicles, motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians are also transported.
Todays situation
use
The main users are long-distance traffic from the area northeast of Lake Constance with Switzerland, commuters and tourists. With the 4.25 kilometer long ferry route, users bypass the 53 kilometer land route around the Überlinger See .
Ferries
The following six ships are in operation in today's ferry service:
- Fontainebleau , 1970
- Constance , 1975
- Meersburg , 1980
- Kreuzlingen , 1993
- Tábor , 2004
- Lodi , 2010
Fontainebleau
Constancy
Meersburg
Kreuzlingen
Tábor
Lodi
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Ferry service
During the crossing, the upper deck with a lounge and a bistro is available to the passengers. There is an unobstructed view of the island of Mainau , the Meersburg city panorama and, if the weather is clear, the Alps .
Clocking
The ferries run between Konstanz and Meersburg Monday to Friday from around 6 a.m. every 15 minutes, from around 9 p.m. every half hour and from around 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. every hour. The crossing takes around 15 minutes. On Saturday / Sunday and on public holidays, trips between around 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. are less frequent. In summer and when there is increased traffic, additional ferries operate on the “crash course”, canceling the regular timetable, the ferries then run about every 10 minutes. There are up to 186 trips a day between the two cities.
Ferry traffic restrictions
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The ferries can operate up to wind force 12. In the event of flooding, ferry traffic is hindered. Ferry traffic was stopped during the Seegförne of Lake Constance in 1962/1963 . Alarm signals are: man overboard, fire, evacuation and general alarm.
team
As a qualification, the ferry skipper needs a Category B Lake Constance skipper's license. During the layover, he also instructs the cars on the ferry. The machinist is part of the other ferry crew. He also assists the cashiers during lay times. The fare is collected by one or two cashiers directly at the car after the vehicles have entered the ferry. Pedestrians pay at the checking cashier on the upper deck. The on-board bistro on the upper deck is managed by one person.
statistics
According to information from Stadtwerke Konstanz, the car ferry transported in 2017, as of July 2018:
- 4.262 million people
- 1.450 million passenger cars
- 96,300 commercial vehicles
- 70,400 motorcycles
- 359,500 bicycles
The ferry operation creates around 150 jobs in the areas of technology, administration and transport. In addition, there are the bistro employees who are not part of the ferry operations but are employed by a private person who takes care of the catering on the car ferries.
From its inception in 1928 to the end of 2008, around 72 million cars, almost eight million trucks and buses and 246 million passengers were transported. This corresponds to a saving of around four billion car kilometers.
history
When the border with Switzerland was closed due to the First World War in the summer of 1914, the city of Konstanz was cut off from its original hinterland, northern Thurgau . This situation did not fundamentally change even after the end of the war. To the north there was only the poorly developed road to Radolfzell and the railway line to Radolfzell / Singen (the Hochrheinbahn since 1863 and the Black Forest Railway since 1873). The shift of rail traffic to the road was already foreseeable at that time. The Bodanrück , which connects to the city in the north, was structurally weak and small-scale, which is why an economic exchange across Lake Constance seemed sensible.
planning
On December 11, 1924, the city council approved the drafting of a ferry across Lake Constance. The management of the municipal utilities should examine the question of the procurement of a boat and the civil engineering office should prepare a cost estimate for the entry and exit points, considering the slide at the Zeppelin monument or Staad.
In the spring of 1925 the proposal was expanded and interested parties were heard in order to refine the planning. Lord Mayor Dr. Moericke then invited over 20 representatives from Konstanz companies to a meeting on January 23, 1925, at which Mayor Arnold campaigned for the creation of the ferry connection, even if it could not work profitably from the point of view of the time (later it turned out to be extremely profitable) . A boat about 30 meters long and 8 meters wide was considered. In the later planning and also in the implementation phase it turned out that the costs exploded. Originally the budget was supposed to be 250,000 RM . On December 9, 1927, the city council - it had no other choice because of the progress in shipbuilding and land construction - approved a budget of 608,000 RM, with one-off grants from the state already being taken into account. Different routes were originally considered:
- northwest of Mainau - Unteruhldingen = 4.5 km
- southeast of Mainau – Unteruhldingen = 4.1 km
- Staad - Meersburg = 4.5 km
- Eichhorn – Meersburg = 6.1 km
- Little Venice - Meersburg = 8.7 km
The Mayor of Meersburg, Karl Moll , campaigned for Meersburg as a ferry port on the northern shore of the lake. As a result, Unteruhldingen was eliminated as a landing stage. The mayor of Konstanz decided on route 3.
The ferry project met with great opposition. The mayors of the neighboring communities and cities such as Singen and Radolfzell on the Constance side and Salem and Uhldingen on the Meersburg side denied the project any economic efficiency or necessity. In the meeting on December 13, 1927, which was decisive for the entire project, in which Mayor Moericke, Mayor Arnold and City Councilor Ellegast, 63 city councilors voted for and 20 against the granting of the necessary increased funds.
In 1927 the contract was signed with the Bodan shipyard in Kressbronn to build a "motor vehicle ferry".
First ferries and ferry operations
The first ferry from 1928
The construction of the first ferry progressed, and on February 7, 1928, in the presence of the city representatives, the shell of the hull was lowered into the water. The ferry “Konstanz” had an open driving deck with four superstructures at the corners, which contained the driver's cabs and lounges. That is why it soon received the nickname Hollow Tooth . Technically, it was the first European ferry for motor vehicles on an inland lake that went back and forth without turning, so there was no real front or rear . The ferry held a maximum of 15 cars. The ferry service began on September 30, 1928. In 1929, 48,000 cars and commercial vehicles as well as 360,000 people were transported. On October 21, 1963, the ferry was taken out of service and then used elsewhere and later decommissioned. From 1996 the ferry was renovated and in mid-2008 it was launched again. Since 2011 it has been located at the old pier in Konstanz-Staad, which has also been renovated, but approx. 350 m north of the former port. Stadtwerke Konstanz and the association that restored them have been offering special trips (for people) by ship since spring 2012. In the past not only vehicles were transported by ferry, farmers used it to transport their cattle. There was a special tariff for this: “Vehicles over 4.10 meters and cattle”.
Ferries with a lounge deck
A second ship was completed and put into service as early as 1930. It was a little bigger and was also named Konstanz , which is why the first ferry was given the (subsequent) name Meersburg . The new ship was the first to have the lounge deck above the driving deck and thus introduced the construction scheme that is still valid today. The ferry operation developed into a profitable business and more ships had to be built.
In 1939 the third ship Konstanz (from 1947 Bodan ; from 1963 Meersburg ) was added, strengthened the fleet and enabled more crossings in the same time.
World War II and post-war period
During the Second World War and during the period of occupation by the French occupying forces, ferry operations for civilian traffic were severely restricted. At first the ferries Konstanz and Bodan were confiscated by the navy . The ferry service was guaranteed by the Meersburg ferry until 1944. From 1944 until the end of the war, the Konstanz was used instead of the Meersburg for civil ferry operations. After the entry of the First French Army in Constance on April 26, 1945, the ferry service was initially set (see French occupation zone ), but resumed from July 1945. The starving Constance population used the ferry service for hamster trips to the Linzgau. From 1949 all three ferries operated again. After the war, however, the number of transports rose very quickly and strongly, quickly surpassing the best years of peace before 1939.
New buildings due to the increase in motor vehicle traffic
On April 1, 1952, the fourth ferry went into service and was christened Linzgau .
Up to and including this ship, the ferries had a drive with two propellers in each direction of travel and control of the drive via machine telegraphs . This required the permanent presence of a machinist in the engine room below deck, who had to carry out the instructions transmitted by the device. Since the next ferry, the Thurgau (after the Thurgau , 1954), all ferries have been equipped with Voith-Schneider propulsion , which significantly improves maneuverability, especially when mooring. This meant that the machinist did not have to stay below deck all the time, because this drive could be operated directly from the driver's cab and because the engine speed no longer played a role in the journey.
In the following years followed the Hegau ( Hegau ; 1957), the Fritz Arnold (1963 - in memory of the mayor Fritz Arnold of the city of Konstanz, who was involved in the ferry project and the construction of the Konstanz bus fleet, the "red Arnold") and the Fontainebleau (1970 - after the Konstanz twin town Fontainebleau ). With the growing traffic, the ferry line was also operated at night from 1967.
The Fritz Arnold was the last ship with steering wheels. It had three steering wheels, two for steering for each Voith-Schneider propeller and one wheel for going ahead and back. The Fritz Arnold , Fontainebleau , Konstanz and the Meersburg were or are driven by a shaft (direct drive), i. That is, they have a motor for each propeller on which a shaft runs to each end of the ship.
Technical progress in ferry construction
In the 1970s to the early 1990s, investments were made in a new generation of ferries. They were larger than their predecessors and with a length of 68 meters and a width sufficient for four car lanes are capable of transporting up to 54 cars. They were christened Konstanz (1975), Meersburg (1980) and Kreuzlingen (1993). The Kreuzlingen is diesel-electric powered, i. that is, it has four power generators that only produce electricity. An electric motor is driven by cable trays at each end of the ship (indirect drive). They are controlled by joysticks .
In 2004 the Tábor (after the Konstanz twin town Tábor ) was put into service. It is not only larger (72 m overhead view , space for 60 cars), it also differs significantly in design from the previous ships. Here, distinctive, arched girders support the entire upper deck, which for the first time can be reached via an elevator . Because of the length of the ship and the limited ceiling height in the shipyard (with the exception of the Linzgau, all of the ferry ships from the Bodan shipyard in Kressbronn were at least completed), the driver's cabs could no longer be accommodated on the roof of the upper deck. This is the first time you are in front of the upper deck of this ship. This arrangement grants the skippers an ideal view, but it restricts the number of coveted viewing spots for the passengers who can watch the skippers at work here. The Tábor is also powered diesel-electric.
On October 14, 2009, the Lodi (after the Konstanz twin town Lodi ) was launched as a new ferry. It was put into operation in July 2010, is 82 meters long, accommodates 62 cars and uses underfloor heating in winter to prevent the formation of ice. The Lodi has the same design as her predecessor, but she is even longer and improvements have been made to the construction. The storage space of the vehicles is no longer restricted by the elevator.
At the Pella Sietas shipyard in Hamburg-Neuenfelde, a 14th ferry was built in 2018/2019 for Stadtwerke Konstanz using LNG as fuel for ships . The segments are brought from the Pella Sietas shipyard to Fußach for final assembly and from there to Constance-Staad for interior work. The hallmark will be the 8 meter high chimney so that gas can be safely drained off if necessary. The first test drives are planned for autumn 2020.
Construction and expansion of the ferry ports
The ferry port in Konstanz-Staad
→ Coordinates: 47 ° 40 ′ 55.9 ″ N , 9 ° 12 ′ 40.7 ″ E
The first Konstanz ferry port was on the site of today's yacht port. It could only be approached via two narrow streets (Fischerstrasse and Schiffstrasse) and there was only a very limited waiting area for vehicles. The landing stage, for which there was no prototype - just like for the first ferry - was designed by the Constance city architect Theodor Lutz. It consisted of a 22 m long access bridge, which was suspended between two towers and which could be brought to the approximate height using a crank drive. Then there was a 3 m long ramp that had to be lowered onto the ship by hand using a lever.
After motor vehicle traffic had grown rapidly in the 1950s and four ferries were now serving the line, the cramped situation in the ferry port was no longer acceptable. In October 1951, the Konstanz city council decided to invest 2 million DM in a new ferry port north of the old one. For this purpose, land had to be acquired. The owners of the Hotel Schiff at the time were very accommodating to the city, as it was mainly the hotel's large beer garden, which became the new landing site. The new ferry port now had space for 100 cars and 30 buses on an area of 6500 m 2 . Two jetties with a length of 20 m are lowered onto the ferries by electric motors, and they are controlled from the landing ship. The peripheral buildings ( rural buildings ) erected in 1953 in reinforced concrete skeleton construction according to plans by Bauhaus student Hermann Blomeier include a pavilion-like café-restaurant on the lake and toilets on the land; originally also a waiting room and a "milk room", the latter now being operated as a snack bar and kiosk. These buildings form a line that delimits the port area to the south from the old fishing village and serve as shelters and waiting areas for the transition between ship and bus traffic. As a typical testimony to modern architecture, they are now a listed building .
In winter 2003/2004 the landing stages were extended. The towers of the tail unit were sawed open and cut in half to make room for 1.40 m wider landing stages. These were given their own footpaths, making it possible for pedestrians to enter or leave the ships regardless of vehicle traffic. Previously, pedestrians could only be allowed onto or off the ship before or after the flow of motor vehicles. Another change in this construction phase concerns the mooring of the ferries. The new landing bridges now hold the ship in place with a special construction. Previously, the ships had to be tied to the bollards with steel cables when landing on port and starboard. Today this is only done in storms.
In 2006, the Konstanz ferry port was expanded again, with a separate place for the maintenance of the ferry ships north of the actual port was created. The previously completed company building takes on the management of the ferry operations and workshops. The first ferry port became the new Staad sailing port. The old landing stage was initially stored. It was later extensively restored and set up again north of the new ferry port. It now serves as a pier for the first ferry for which it was originally planned, the Konstanz ferry, which was restored by an association .
In 2017 the movable bridges between the ferry and the bank will be checked. This is especially true for the towers to the left and right of the bridge with the electric motors, bearings, gears and chains.
The Meersburg ferry port
→ Coordinates: 47 ° 41 ′ 41 ″ N , 9 ° 15 ′ 53.2 ″ E
When the car ferry was planned in the 1920s, it was decided in the case of Meersburg not to use the existing port, because that would have meant that all car traffic would have to move through the narrow city. Therefore, the land northwest of the city was bought from the Margrave of Baden. Due to the prevailing wind direction on the lake, the ferry port was laid out parallel to the shore, which today still has higher demands on the skipper when entering.
This port also proved to be too small in the 1950s, which is why from 1952 - during ongoing operations - the installation area for vehicles was built from the old port basin and the new ferry port moved further to the northwest. From then on, two landing stages - the same as the one in Constance - made it easier to load and unload the ferries.
Here - also by Hermann Blomeier - two small buildings were realized: A round pavilion, the terrace of which protrudes into the lake, and a shelter as a waiting room, which bridges the height difference to the overlying road to Unteruhldingen with a staircase and is also used by passengers of the public bus can be. The round glazed pavilions in Bauhaus style at the ferry ports of Staad and Meersburg symbolize the bridgeheads of an invisible bridge over the lake according to the idea of Blomeier.
The widening of the landing stages was also carried out here in winter 2003/2004.
The Constance – Meersburg car ferry in art
The painter Kasia von Szadurska (1876–1942) painted several graphics , watercolors and oil paintings from the first phase of the ferry port construction in Meersburg. At that time she lived directly above the construction site so that she could watch the construction. Kasia von Szadurska did not exactly stick to reality in these works, but used her artistic freedom to compose the pictures. The works are in the stock of the Städtische Galerie Meersburg and the Rosgarten Museum in Konstanz.
See also
Ferry line Friedrichshafen – Romanshorn - the second car ferry on Lake Constance, until 1974 also a railway ferry .
Individual evidence
- ^ Wilhelm Büsing: Description of the shore of Lake Constance. Verlag Paula Büsing, Konstanz 1984. p. 19
- ↑ Jörg-Peter Rau: New flagship commutes from 2017. In: Südkurier of December 9, 2014, p. 23.
- ↑ Timetable ferry Konstanz-Meersburg. Retrieved July 4, 2018 .
- ↑ Josef Siebler: He helped with the birth on a ferry crossing . In: Südkurier from May 6, 2010
- ↑ Lena Reiner: This is where teamwork counts. In: Südkurier , August 22, 2019, p. 17.
- ↑ Talent and a sense of proportion . In: Konstanzer Anzeiger from June 26, 2013.
- ↑ Lena Reiner: This is where teamwork counts. In: Südkurier , August 22, 2019, p. 17.
- ↑ Stadtwerke Konstanz: Facts and Figures 2017
- ↑ Successful balance sheet: Stadtwerke Konstanz invest in the city and region at konstanz.de
- ↑ a b c Josef Siebler: Longest ship on Lake Constance . In: Südkurier from May 7, 2010
- ^ Fritz Arnold: The development of the Konstanzer traffic conditions in the last fifty years. In: Constance - Its building history and Transport development - commemorative publication of the Konstanz Architects and Engineers Association, 1925
- ^ Stadtwerke Konstanz GmbH (Ed.): Insights. Stadtwerke Konstanz GmbH. Approx. 2008, p. 38
- ↑ Sylvia Floetemeyer: Special trip for the 90th birthday of the ferry and the new book about the historic ferry Konstanz in: Südkurier, Überlingen edition of October 1, 2018
- ↑ Changing use of the four-tower ferry from 1928 ( Memento from June 21, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Report (with pictures of the ferry from 1928) on SWR television from May 24, 2009, 8:15 p.m. - 9:15 p.m. Sunday tour (from Konstanz to Mainau)
- ↑ a b SWR on tour. SWR water worlds. In: SWR / SR of May 21, 2010, 8:15 p.m. - 9:45 p.m.
- ↑ Save the Meersburg ex Konstanz! Association for the maintenance and recommissioning of the first Bodensee automobile ferry built in 1928 eV
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20100326101457/http://sw.konstanz.de:80/fileadmin/content/PDFs/Presse/Pressetexte_2009/Presseinfo_SWK_Stapellauf_F%C3%A4hrschiff_aktuell_14.10.2009.pdf
- ↑ Start of construction for the ferry. In: Südkurier , September 11, 2018, p. 27.
- ↑ Jörg-Peter Rau: Heavy Metal in Hamburg: How the new Lake Constance ferry is created on the Elbe. In: Südkurier , October 4, 2018.
- ↑ Rolf Baumann: 14 facts about FS 14. In: Konstanzer Anzeiger, January 22, 2020, p. 2.
- ↑ a b Verkehrsbetriebe der Stadt Konstanz (ed.): 25 years of Lake Constance ferry Konstanz / Staad - Meersburg. Completion of the second expansion phase. Commemorative gift from the municipal transport company for September 30, 1953. o.V.
- ^ Landesdenkmalpflege Baden-Württemberg, Lower Monument Protection Authority of the City of Konstanz: Open Monument Day 2010 - Konstanzer Ländebauten . Leaflet: Historische-faehre-konstanz.de
- ^ Claudia Rindt: Traffic jams on land and on water in: Südkurier from October 18, 2003, accessed on March 13, 2014
- ^ Josef Siebler: Stadtwerke expand ferry port in: Südkurier from February 12, 2005, accessed on March 13, 2014
- ↑ Stadtwerke Konstanz GmbH: Insights, 2008, p. 41
- ^ Landesdenkmalpflege Baden-Württemberg, Lower Monument Protection Authority of the City of Konstanz: Open Monument Day 2010 - Ferry Meersburg ex Konstanz, Landebrücke. Leaflet. Online version
- ^ Nikolai Schutzbach: Renovation after 13 years. In: Südkurier of March 18, 2017, p. 21.
- ↑ Ingo holiday: 100 years of Bauhaus: We show where the influences of this architecture can be found in Constance. In: Südkurier , April 8, 2019, p. 21.
literature
- Waltraud Gut: On the way to the ferry . 75 years of the Constance - Meersburg ferry. UVK-Verl.-Ges., Konstanz 2003, ISBN 3-89669-733-1 (A very detailed history of this ferry connection on the occasion of the exhibition of the same name for the 75th anniversary. Paperback, 125 pages).
- Jürgen Klöckler, Krister Hennige, Franz Leinweber: Floating Bridge - The ferry on Lake Constance . Stadler, Konstanz 2003, ISBN 3-7977-0496-8 .
- Margret Meier, Helio Stinka, Karsten Meyer: A ferry makes stories - 55 entertaining, interesting, curious stories about Europe's first inland lake automobile ferry . MarkOrPlan, Bonn 2018, ISBN 3-933356-92-X (Hegau Library; Volume 182).
- Werner Trapp: The dream of the navel of the world - The “Lake Constance ferry” project in the field of tension between regional transport interests . In: District Administrator of the Bodenseekreis (Hrsg.): Leben am See. Yearbook of the Bodenseekreis . tape 8 , 1990, ISBN 978-3-89669-733-2 .
Map with all coordinates: 
