German ferry company Baltic Sea

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The Deutsche Fährgesellschaft Ostsee was a state-owned German shipping company that operated rail ferry routes from Germany to Denmark and Sweden on the Baltic Sea from 1993 to 1998 .

history

At the beginning of the 20th century, railway ferry lines from Germany to Denmark and Sweden were set up on the Baltic Sea. The railway ferry connection between Warnemünde and the Danish Gedser had already existed since 1903 . The royal line between Sassnitz on the island of Rügen and Trelleborg in southern Sweden has existed since 1909 . From 1920 both lines on the German side were operated by the Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR). In 1963, the Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB) established the Vogelfluglinie, another railway ferry connection between Puttgarden on the island of Fehmarn and Rødby in Denmark . In addition to passenger and freight trains, all of them increasingly also transported cars and trucks. From 1978 the DR operated a seasonal ferry line from Sassnitz to Rønne on the Danish island of Bornholm, but no railways were transported.

After German reunification , the Deutsche Reichsbahn and the Deutsche Bundesbahn merged their ferry business and on April 1, 1993 founded the Deutsche Fährgesellschaft Ostsee (DFO) . The originally planned name Deutsche Ostsee-Fährgesellschaft was discarded because of the unfavorable abbreviation. Thus the DFO operated the mentioned ferry lines in each case together with the Danish State Railways (DSB) and the SweFerry , the ferry company of the Swedish State Railways , both of which in turn served the lines with their own ships. The DFO kept all seven DR and DB ferries in use.

With the merger of DR and DB to form Deutsche Bahn AG on January 1, 1994, DFO became the new owner.

On June 27, 1994, DFO and SweFerry put a new railway ferry line between Rostock and Trelleborg into operation. To this end, a new ferry terminal was built in Rostock's overseas port and the Rostock Königslinie ferry was rebuilt. The new line was marketed together with the Königslinie under the name HANSA FERRY .

On September 24, 1995 the DFO operated the Warnemünde – Gedser route for the last time. The line was discontinued, the Warnemünde ferry launched in Warnemünde and sold to an Italian shipping company in January 1996. The DFO tried to buy a ferry to operate the new Rostock – Gedser ferry connection with DSB, but was unsuccessful.

From December 16, 1996, the newly built Mecklenburg-Vorpommern railway ferry was used on the Rostock – Trelleborg route . It is still the largest German railway ferry today .

Together with the Danish partners, DFO invested in the modernization of the Puttgarden – Rødby connection. To this end, the port facilities were rebuilt and in 1997 the new double-ended ferries Germany and Schleswig-Holstein were put into service. The rail freight traffic was stopped, but diesel multiple units ( ICE-TD , DSB MF ) were still hauled. The ferries Deutschland , Karl Carstens and Theodor Heuss were retired.

In January 1998 the DFO moved the starting point of the royal line from the Sassnitz city port to the nearby port of Mukran, which now operated under the name of the Sassnitz ferry port . The Sassnitz – Rønne ferry line was extended to the Swedish port of Ystad in April 1998 and served in the triangle.

In summer 1998 DFO merged with the partner shipping company Scandlines Danmark A / S , which had been outsourced from the Danish State Railways in 1995 , to form Scandlines AG . At that time, the owners were Deutsche Bahn AG and the Kingdom of Denmark, represented by the Ministry of Transport. The original plan to integrate SweFerry into the new company could not be realized.

Ferry lines

Ferries

The following list shows the ferries and the period of use at DFO, the IMO number and the main line of operation. All ships sailed under the German flag.

  • Theodor Heuss (1993–1997, IMO 5358373, Vogelfluglinie)
  • Germany (1993–1997, IMO 7129922, Vogelfluglinie)
  • Karl Carstens (1993–1997, IMO 8420115, Vogelfluglinie)
  • Warnemünde (1993–1995. IMO 5423001, Warnemünde – Gedser)
  • Sassnitz (1993–1998, IMO 8705383, royal line)
  • Rostock (1993–1998, IMO 7527887, Rostock – Trelleborg)
  • Rügen (1993–1998, IMO 7111664, Sassnitz – Rønne – Ystad)
  • Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (1996–1998, IMO 9131797, Rostock – Trelleborg)
  • Germany (1997–1998, IMO 9151541, Vogelfluglinie)
  • Schleswig-Holstein (1997–1998, IMO 9151539, Vogelfluglinie)

See also

Web links

literature

  • Horst-Dieter Förster, Reinhard Kramer: Building bridges across the Baltic Sea - the Rostock – Gedser ferry connection , Redieck & Schade, Rostock 2003, ISBN 3-934116-28-0
  • Reinhard Kramer, Wolfgang Kramer and Horst-Dieter Foerster: Between yesterday and tomorrow: The Sassnitz – Trelleborg ferry connection. Redieck & Schade, Rostock 2009, ISBN 978-3-934116-82-5 .