Mövenort harbor

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The port of Mövenort was a ferry port planned in the 1960s at Nonnevitz on the north coast of the island of Rügen , but it was never realized. It was one of several possible locations for Project 3700 , which was to be used by ferries to the Soviet Union . When an improvement in the ferry connections between the GDR and Sweden was planned later , the location came back into consideration. Instead, the Mukran ferry port south of Sassnitz was completed for traffic to the Soviet Union in the 1980s .

location

The port was to be built in the Mövenort area on the north side of the Wittow peninsula in the far north of the island of Rügen. The planned location was a little east of Nonnevitz, today part of the municipality of Dranske , about two kilometers east of the Mövenort headland. The area is about six kilometers northeast of Dranske and five kilometers northwest of Altenkirchen in the area of ​​both communities. Cape Arkona is about eight kilometers to the east. In this area, the water in the bank area quickly reaches great depths, and this area of ​​the Baltic Sea is also largely ice-free.

history

In 1964, Poland planned to increase rail transit charges by 170%. In response, the GDR and the Soviet Union conducted secret investigations into a ferry connection between the two countries. Various locations were examined for the new port project , known as Project 3700 . The area around the mouth of the Warnow near the Rostock overseas port or near Markgrafenheide was ruled out because of the great distance to the Soviet Union and also because of its tourist use and nature conservation reasons. There were also strategic reasons against this situation. The locations Mukran on Rügen and Pudagla on the island of Usedom were also discarded. Gristow near Greifswald offered short transport routes on the land side, but the shallow water in the Greifswalder Bodden would have required extensive dredging work, and there was also rich stocks of herrings there. Mövenort was preferred because of its ice-free location and the steeply sloping coast, which required comparatively little dredging work. The project was expected to cost 479 million marks. On the Soviet side, the port in Baltisk was to be built, and a location near Leningrad was also examined. Commissioning was initially planned in the fourth quarter of 1967, which was then postponed to the fourth quarter of 1968.

It is expected that 4.2 million tons of freight will be transported each year, 3.4 million of them from the Soviet Union to the GDR. Four ferries, which were to be built at the Mathias Thesen shipyard in Wismar , were intended for use on this connection. They should have a length of 183.5 meters and a load capacity of 9900 tons.

After the Soviet Union failed to sign an agreement on the ferry connection that had been planned in the meantime, the Politburo of the SED stopped planning on October 12, 1965. One reason for this decision was that Poland had meanwhile waived the increase in transit fees.

In 1969 the Swedish State Railways of the GDR suggested setting up a working group to investigate the construction of a port near Mövenort with a ferry station on Rügen Nord . It was hoped that this project would result in more efficient ferry traffic, as the travel time from the GDR to Trelleborg would be shortened by one hour. Instead of five ferry courses a day, the construction of the new port could have made seven journeys on the royal line . Transport Minister Erwin Kramer announced in 1971 that the GDR State Planning Commission would not be able to provide funds for the construction of the port. Nevertheless, a leading employee of the Deutsche Reichsbahn tried to put a message about the possible construction of the ferry port in the Ostsee-Zeitung , but this was prevented by the Ministry for State Security .

After the problem of transit fees through Poland became acute again in 1977, plans for the construction of a ferry connection between the GDR and the Soviet Union were revived. This time, however, the Mövenort location was discarded because of the high costs of land transport and the GDR ferry port was built at Mukran . The experience of the employees in Project 3700 was used.

See also: Mukran – Klaipėda ferry connection

Rail connection

A disadvantage of Mövenort as a port location was that it was far away from the existing land transport routes. Several options for the railway connection were under discussion. A variant saw a branch near Borchtitz, a district of Lietzow, from the Stralsund – Sassnitz railway line . From there to Glowe , preliminary work had already been made in the 1950s for a strategic railway that was to develop a military port planned there. From there it should go over the Schaabe to the Wittow peninsula. The disadvantage of this variant was that the Schaabe was an important holiday area. In addition, Harry Tisch , then chairman of the SED in the Rostock district , planned the construction of a large holiday complex near Juliusruh (similar to the buildings in the seaside resort of Prora during the Nazi era ). With a route near the Wittower ferry (similar to the course of the narrow-gauge railway line from Bergen to Altenkirchen) there would have been greater difficulties with the underground. So the decision was made for a route that should leave the main line between Rambin and Samtens , then pass Kluis via Neuenkirchen and cross the Breetzer Bodden at Vieregge on the Lebbin peninsula . There were problems with the Ministry of Defense of the GDR, which insisted that the port of refuge near Ralswiek should continue to be accessible for large ships. Therefore the bridge had to be designed with a corresponding height above the water level. In principle, the construction of lane change systems for the DR IV wheelset in the port was planned, but this was initially not done in the initial planning.

Development of the environment

The construction of the port would have changed northern Rügen decisively. During the construction phase one expected 2600 workers; 700 workers were required to carry out the ferry service, around 300 of them would have to be resettled. According to an estimate at the time, 120 workers could be made redundant because the existing small train from Bergen to Altenkirchen would be dispensable. It was assumed that the entire north coast of the island would receive a strong increase in holidaymakers. A number of tourists from Scandinavia were also expected. The place Wiek in particular was to develop into an important cultural and recreational center and even grow into a city.

literature

  • Günter Meyer, Rudi Dobbert: The 3700 project. On the history of the Mukran ferry port on Rügen. In: Verkehrsgeschichtliche Blätter . 6/2012, pp. 163-170.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Wolfgang Klietz: Baltic Sea Ferries in the Cold War , Christoph Links Verlag , Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-86153-673-4 , pp. 18-19.
  2. ^ A b c Günter Meyer, Rudi Dobbert: The project 3700. On the prehistory of the ferry port Mukran on Rügen. In: Verkehrsgeschichtliche Blätter 6/2012, pp. 165/166.
  3. ^ A b Günter Meyer, Rudi Dobbert: The project 3700. On the prehistory of the Mukran ferry port on Rügen. In: Verkehrsgeschichtliche Blätter 6/2012, pp. 169/170.
  4. ^ A b c d Günter Meyer, Rudi Dobbert: The project 3700. On the history of the Mukran ferry port on Rügen. In: Verkehrsgeschichtliche Blätter 6/2012, pp. 167/168.

Coordinates: 54 ° 40 ′ 27 ″  N , 13 ° 19 ′ 24 ″  E