Chain towing of the Upper Elbe
_b_253.jpg)
The Upper Elbe Kettenschleppschiffahrt AG (KSO) was founded in 1869 to operate chain shipping in the Saxon section of the Elbe . The initiator Ewald Bellingrath was appointed director.
Background and history
The background to the introduction of chain towing was the development of the railroad, the rapid expansion of which in the middle of the 19th century meant very strong competition from Elbe shipping. The previous technology of sailing and towing on the Elbe was too complex and too slow. The paddle - wheel steam tugs, which had been in regular service since 1840 , had a great draft and had little propulsion power because they were equipped with low-pressure steam engines.
Chain tugs , as they were already used in France, had only a shallow draft and could also cope with stretches with great gradients and strong currents. The disadvantage, however, was the high investment costs for laying and maintaining the chain. However, the railways also had to create their own track with high investment costs. Paddle steamers were successfully used as tugs on routes with little gradients .
The " United Hamburg-Magdeburger Dampfschiffahrts-Compagnie " (VHMDC) became a pioneer in Germany with the first stretch (5 km) between Magdeburg -Neustadt and Buckau . The first chain steamers drove here from 1866 and proved their worth. The route was then extended to Ferchlau and reached Hamburg three years later.
Chain towing of the Upper Elbe (KSO, 1869–1881)
Industry and banks (E. Bellingrath) and the Schifferverein (A. Fiedler) in Saxony came to an agreement and formed a joint company, the “chain towing of the Upper Elbe” in Dresden. Bellingrath became its director, the share capital was around 800,000 thalers (2.4 million marks).
First, the company received the concession to design the chain from the state of Saxony (albeit under strict conditions). Just six months after it was founded on November 1st, 1869, two chain tractors were used on the first part of the 49 km long route between Merschwitz and Loschwitz . A rapid expansion was slowed down by ferries that were guided on the cross rope or on the cross chain. Only the conversion to the principle of the yaw ferries created a remedy here. Around 1870 the planned route of around 120 km from Kreinitz to Schmilka was laid out.
In 1871, the Anhalt concession was also available, and the chain was then laid in both directions from Magdeburg and Kreinitz. In the same year the total distance of 330 km went into operation and in 1873 the KSO already had 13 chain tractors. In 1872 around 10,000 barges with a cargo volume of around 140,000 tons were towed. This doubled to around 292,000 tons by 1880. In 1878 the Übigau shipyard was integrated and expanded so that the chain tugs could be overhauled at the company's own shipyard, and new buildings were also built here. In 1880 a joint venture was formed with the Elbdampfschiffahrtsgesellschaft.
successor
Chain - German Elbe Shipping Society (1881–1903)
In 1881 the KSO bought the "Elb-Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft" and the "Hamburg-Magdeburger Dampfschiffahrts-Compagnie" and merged with them on January 1, 1882 to form the "Chain - Deutsche Elbschiffahrts-Gesellschaft" . In 1883 it had 625 km of chain in the Elbe from Schmilka to Hamburg and 27 chain tugs. In addition to 110 barges , she also owned twelve paddle steamers, eight express freight steamers and two passenger steamers . This was the peak of this technology on the Elbe. From 1898 the chains of individual routes were no longer renewed and chain shipping was discontinued there, as competition from paddle steamers with the economical triple expansion machines increased.
The drum winches were replaced by gripping wheels with less chain wear and when going downhill, the new chain tractors like the Gustav Zeuner drove with the drive of so-called turbine propellers to protect the chains.
United Elbe Shipping Society (from 1904)
On December 12, 1903, the "chain" merged with the "Dampfschleppschiffahrts-Gesellschaft Vereinigte Elbe- und Saale-Schiffer" and then merged on January 1, 1904 into the "United Elbe Shipping Society" that emerged from this merger. In addition, in 1903/04 over 95% of the shares in the “Österreichische Nordwest-Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft” were acquired by means of an exchange offer with the help of the Deutsche and Dresdner Banks.
In 1907, the operating resources of the "Privatschiffer-Transport-Gesellschaft eGmbH in Aken", the "Elbe-Dampfschiffahrt in Hamburg" and the "Deutsch-Österreichische Dampfschiffahrts-AG in Dresden" were leased.
In 1921 the Saale route was discontinued. In 1929 there were 185 km of chain on the Elbe, in 1943 only 10 km with two chain tractors. In 1945 the last chain tractors were destroyed in an air raid. With this, chain towing was finally ended in Germany, because this area of shipping was stopped earlier on the other rivers; it was never resumed thereafter.
See also
literature
- Sigbert Zesewitz, Helmut Düntzsch, Theodor Grötschel: Ewald Bellingrath - A life for shipping. Writings of the Association for the Promotion of the Lauenburg Elbe Shipping Museum, issue 4, Lauenburg, 2003.
