Ship welcoming system Willkomm-Höft

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Willkomm-Höft seen from the Elbe, at the pier lies the historic Lühe ship
Farewell to the AIDAluna
View from the ferry house to the landing stage and the Elbe

The Willkomm-Höft ship greeting system (from the Low German Hööft "headland, tongue") is a facility at the ferry house in Schulau , the southern district of Wedel on the Lower Elbe . It was set up by Otto Friedrich Behnke, the landlord of the Schulauer Fährhaus, on June 11, 1952. On June 12th, the Agaki Maru (Japan) was the first ship to be welcomed. The Willkomm-Höft ship welcoming system is currently sponsored by the Nautical Comradeship HANSEA.

Ships that the port of Hamburg to approach or leave, are welcomed here or adopted by the Hamburg flag lowered (seamanship, " dipped ") and the international flag signal for "Bon Voyage" with the letters "U" and "W" is hoisted. For ships over 1000 gross tonnage leaving German waters, the national anthem of their home country is played between 8 a.m. and sunset or 8 p.m. The ship will occasionally greet you by dipping the flag or by sounding the bugle. For the greetings and farewells, 152 different national anthems of the seafaring nations, or those who keep a ship register, are available on compact cassettes (red lettering: welcome greeting, black lettering: farewell greeting) or a computer. Both systems can be used equally.

The ship greeting system receives information about incoming and outgoing ships from the ship reporting service as soon as a ship coming from the sea has passed the Stadersand passage point or from Hamburg the Finkenwerder passage point.

Visitors to the Willkomm-Höft are briefly informed about the respective ship via loudspeaker. The name, nationality and year of construction of the ship, shipping company and shipyard as well as length, width and draft are given. As far as known, the space for containers and other special features are also mentioned. These data are available in a constantly changing handwritten file for around 17,000 ships.

The ceremony of greeting and farewell ship is currently carried out by five so-called “welcome captains”.

Web links

Commons : Willkomm-Höft ship greeting system  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gudrun Maurer: Legendary places in Hamburg. Via Reise Verlag Klaus Scheddel, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-935029-53-7 , pp. 135-136.

Coordinates: 53 ° 34 ′ 5 ″  N , 9 ° 42 ′ 9 ″  E