Rhine mermaids

The Rhine ferry Rheinnixe on the Rhine in Bonn abeam in front of the pier on the Brassertufer (2012)

The Rhine ferry Rheinnixe ( ENI number 04305340) is a passenger ferry that has been operating since 1980 with interruptions at river kilometer 654.4 between Bonn - Beuel-Mitte and Bonn-Zentrum . Their landing stages are on the Beueler Hans-Steger-Ufer at Steinerstrasse and on Bonn's Brassertufer at Erste Fährgasse near the Rheinpavillon excursion restaurant. It was put into operation on June 16, 1980 as the fourth successive ferry of this name and was the only remaining Bonn ferry on the Rhine. The operator is the Bonner Fähr- und Fahrgastschifffahrt GmbH & Co. KG ; the company also operates the Moby Dick passenger ship .

history

The Schmitz family of boatmen from Beuel has been operating a Rhine ferry between Beuel (at that time still an independent municipality) and Bonn since 1930. After the Second World War and the associated destruction of the old Rhine bridge , the ferries were for a long time the only way to get from the “ Schäl Sick ” to Bonn. Four passenger ferries were initially approved by the American occupying forces. The Rheinnixe was the last remaining ferry on the Bonn – Beuel connection. In 1948/1949 the Rhine Bridge was rebuilt on the pillars of the previous bridge and in 1963 it was given its current name, Kennedy Bridge . In 1952 the municipality of Beuel was raised to the status of a town and in 1969 it was incorporated into Bonn.

The ferry ran every 15 minutes, on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, every 20 minutes, according to different opening times, which depend on the days of the week and the month. In winter (November to February) there was also a driving break from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on weekdays. A crossing took between five and ten minutes. The operation took place all year round with the exception of Christmas and New Year. The ferry service was only briefly interrupted when the water was extremely low. Furthermore, it is difficult to moor at the Beuel pier because of the stony shore area. The subsoil had to be deepened several times with a floating dredger, for example in August 2003. In addition to the regular ferry service, the Rheinnixe was sometimes also hired by shipmasters from professional shipping on the Rhine to pick them up from board a ship when individual crew members changed to bring to shore.

Since 1988, water consecrations have been held annually in January on the Rhine ferry by the Greek Orthodox Church and since 2014 as an ecumenical consecration together with the Roman Catholic parish in Bonn. For this purpose, two clergymen of both denominations held a mass exactly in the middle of the river and gave the water blessing by throwing the cross into the river on both sides of the ferry and then retrieving it again.

The ferry right in Bonn is passed on to the descendants after the historical ferry right . The Schmitz senior couple ran the ferry service until October 2016. In addition to captain Günter Schmitz, his wife Uta Schmitz was the ferry driver at the wheel. Dieter Wißkirchen led the ship as a substitute. After more than 50 years on the Rhine, the Schmitz couple retired from active ferry service. The next generation took over the helm: the children Angelika and Dieter have been steering the Rhine Mermaid ever since.

Temporary suspension of the ferry service

The ferry service was suspended from the end of July 2019 to the beginning of March 2020. Since then the Rhine Mermaid has been around again; but only at clearly limited times.

vehicle

The Rheinnixe ferry is 25 meters long, seven meters wide and six meters high, and weighs around 50 tons. The hull is made using the chine system and was divided into eight watertight chambers by transverse bulkheads. The Schottel rudder propeller is powered by a Daimler-Benz engine with 130 hp. The maximum speed is 20 km / h. 150 people plus bicycles can be transported. In May 1980 the ship was christened by the then mayor Hans Daniels in the steel and metal construction company Grönewald, Bunsenstrasse in Bonn-Dransdorf. This was also the ceremony for the company's 90th anniversary. On June 16, 1980 the official ferry service for this Rhine mermaid began . The owners at the time, the Schmitz brothers, and their families actively participated in the construction of the ferry. Johann Schmitz, the father of long-time skipper Günter Schmitz (until 2016) was a shipbuilder himself. The two jetties were also built in-house.

The Rhine Mermaid was driven by only one person. The skipper can fix the ferry to the resident with strong electromagnets and operate the doors from the driver's cab. The Rheinnixe was often used by students who visit their school on the right bank of the Rhine on the other side of the Rhine, for example the Beethoven grammar school on Adenauerallee near the Rhine.

In December 2015, the Mercedes OM 401 engine was overhauled at the Lux shipyard in Mondorf-Niederkassel and the ship's electrics were modernized; a new coat of paint followed in spring 2016.