Same Princesse

Same Princesse

The Elbe Princesse in June 2016

Ship data flag  France Ship type River cruise ship Callsign FM6906 home port Strasbourg Owner CroisiEurope Shipyard STX France , Saint-Nazaire baptism April 14, 2016 Launch 2016

Ship dimensions and crew length 95.37 m ( Lüa ) width 10.5 m Draft Max. 0.90 m   crew 24

Machine system machine 2 x Volvo - marine diesel engine Machine performance 1,500 PS (1,103 kW) propeller 2 × rear paddle wheels

Transport capacities Pax cabins 40 Berths for passengers 80

Others Registration numbers ENI 01840744

The Elbe Princesse is a French river cruise ship that has been used for trips between Berlin and Prague since 2016 .

Shipyard

The STX France has the French shipping company delivered CroisiEurope the river cruise ship with paddle-wheel drive. The inland waterway vessel was built by the Neopolia Marine industrial group from two individual blocks and was joined together in dry dock 1 in Saint-Nazaire . The subsequent final equipment took place at the Penhoët docks of Saint-Nazaire.

The ship

The Elbe Princesse is 95 meters long, 10.50 meters wide and has a very shallow draft of only 0.90 meters. It is powered by a combination of two rigid paddle wheels at the stern with a diameter of 4.6 meters and 2.6 meters wide and two swiveling Omega-Jet bow thrusters . The paddle wheels are of two Volvo - marine diesel engines driven with each PS 750, the bow thruster, which also serve the better maneuverability, two 500-PS-Volvo engines. This results in a maximum speed of around 20 km / h downstream and 10–12 km / h upstream, depending on the current. The rear paddle wheels should enable passage through particularly narrow locks .

The use of rigid paddle wheels did not correspond to the state of the art, the paddle wheels led to an inefficient drive and strong vibrations. For this reason, the rigid paddle wheels were dismantled and replaced by eccentric paddle wheels.

Rear wheel section

The Elbe Princesse runs with a crew of 24 people and offers space for 80 passengers. The 40 cabins are arranged on two decks : the cabins have French balconies on the upper deck and portholes on the lower deck . The ship is used for trips from Berlin via Magdeburg , Wittenberg , Meißen , Dresden and Theresienstadt to Prague.

particularities

There are very few ships with propulsion by the combination of diesel engines and paddle wheels (side or stern wheel). The reason is the considerably lower overall efficiency compared to the motor drive and propeller. At the Elbe Princesse , this arrangement was chosen despite the higher fuel consumption in order to achieve the lowest possible draft and to be able to approach Prague as long as possible even when the water level was falling.

Web links

Commons : Elbe Princesse  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Footnotes

1. ↑ Paddle wheel ship MS Elbe Princesse: Currently the only rear-wheel driven paddle wheel river cruise ship in the world is starting its premiere season on the Elbe. on: kreuzfahrten-mehr.de , May 2, 2016, accessed on June 24, 2016.
2. ↑ The paddle wheel ship Elbe Princess christened in Berlin. on: shiptrips.de , April 18, 2016, accessed June 24, 2016.
3. ↑ New drive for the princess. In: The Prignitzer. February 7, 2017. Retrieved March 26, 2017.