Main ferry Höchst

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Main ferry Walter Kolb between Höchst and Schwanheim; Port view

The Main ferry Höchst is a free-moving passenger and cyclist ferry in Frankfurt am Main . The ship operates year-round according to the timetable on the Main between the western districts of Höchst (landing stage: Batterie ) and Schwanheim ( Höchst way in Schwanheimer Unterfeld). The only remaining ferry in the city is leased from the city of Frankfurt to the ferryman Sven Junghans. The Walter Kolb ferry , named after the politician Walter Kolb (1902–1956), who was Frankfurt's mayor from 1946 until his death, has been in service since autumn 1992 . In addition to the timetable operation as a ferry, the ship can be rented for riverboat shuffles .

history

Mainbogen Höchst by ferry (middle right, on Schwanheimer Ufer). View upstream to the east, with the Frankfurt skyline on the horizon . In white on the left edge of the picture a ship in the mouth of the Nidda

The ferry service between Höchst and Schwanheim can be traced back to 1623, when the ferryman Jost Ferg acquired the right to operate a ferry for seven guilders. Between 1911 and the autumn of 1992 a yaw ferry operated between Höchst and Schwanheim , which also served as a carriage ferry. The wagon ferry with a load capacity of 18 tons was built on behalf of I. Bender by the Bayerische Schiffbaugesellschaft in Erlenbach am Main . In 1921 the Höchst Ferry was sold to the Schwanheim stonemason Wilhelm Schmidt, and his family operated the ferry until the end of 1977.

One of Schmidt's descendants saved the ferry from being blown up by the Wehrmacht in the spring of 1945 . He drove the ferry into the mouth of the Nidda at the Wörthspitze , which is adjacent to the Main crossing , flooded the ship and set it aground. After the end of the war, the ferry only had to be pumped out and could start operating again.

After the Second World War, the ferry was equipped with an auxiliary electric motor. In 1963 the city of Frankfurt acquired the Höchst Ferry Shelf from the State of Hesse and leased the ferry service. When the Schmidt family gave up the ferry operation at the end of 1977, the ferry was idle until another ferryman took over the ferry service in April 1978. In the meantime, the ferry had been completely overhauled and equipped with a diesel engine. It served until 1991.

With the construction of the Leunabrücke as a road connection between Höchst and Schwanheim, the ferry service between the two districts was to be discontinued. After protests by the Höchst citizens, however, the city of Frankfurt decided in 1991 to operate a ferry for pedestrians and cyclists instead of the car ferry and procured the Walter Kolb . After a further discussion about the cessation of ferry operations in 1996, the existence of the ferry is now secured. Since the establishment of the Frankfurt Green Belt in 1991, the ferry connection has been the westernmost part of the Green Belt Circular Walk and the Green Belt Cycle Route; it is one of two Main crossings of the circular routes leading around the city.

The old Höchst Main ferry is located in the former Gustavsburg shipyard in Ginsheim-Gustavsburg .

literature

  • Wolfram Gorr: Frankfurt bridges. Locks, ferries, tunnels and bridges of the Main. Frankfurt am Main 1982: Frankfurter Societät. ISBN 3-7973-0393-9
  • City of Frankfurt am Main, Environment Agency (ed.): The GrünGürtel Freizeitkarte, 8th edition 2017. Frankfurt city map with timetable of the Main ferry Höchst on the map

Web links

Commons : Ferry (Frankfurt-Hoechst)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Green Belt Leisure Map, 8th edition 2017

Coordinates: 50 ° 5 ′ 53 ″  N , 8 ° 33 ′ 3 ″  E