White Fleet (Schwerin)
The Weisse Flotte Schwerin of the Weisse Flotte Fahrgastschifffahrt Schwerin GmbH operates on the lakes of the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state capital Schwerin in passenger shipping . The main landing stage is right next to the Schwerin Castle on the Inner Lake of Schwerin . City tours with a double-decker bus are also part of the company's offer.
history
On August 14, 1852, passenger shipping on Lake Schwerin began with four gunfire and the first test run of the steamer Alban . At that time, Carl Christian Molchin set up the first ferry connections to the island of Rabbitwerder and to Zippendorf . Despite the poor mooring possibilities at the time, the connection was well received, which gave an incentive for further activities.
Since 1868 there have been lake cruises with catering on board. In 1885 and 1894 the passenger ships Niclot and Obotrit, built in the Howaldtswerke Kiel , were launched, each of which could carry up to 300 people and was part of the fleet until the 1930s. A paddle steamer built in 1883 with the name of Grand Duke Friedrich Franz and a capacity of 280 people sailed the Schwerin lakes from 1906 to 1911. Since the owner Joseph Bahlke set the prices very low, the ship was popularly known as the Fiefpennigsdampfer (five-pfennig steamers). In 1910, the entrepreneur Carl Schröder bought up all of his competitors' ships, thus ending years of competition. In 1920 the paddle steamer Grand Duke Friedrich Franz was sold to Denmark.
In 1950, Carl Schröder junior feared expropriation and renamed the ship Schwerin as Soviet friendship . Nevertheless, in 1953 the company became publicly owned as VEB Weisse Flotte Schwerin . Various ferry connections were operated, round trips and dance trips were carried out until 1990. Around 1985 there were 400,000 passengers a year. In 1992 the White Fleet was sold by the trust to private investors. The Schlossbucht landing stage was completely redesigned in 1999/2000 and a restaurant was built. In 2005 the traditional ferry service from the castle bay to Zippendorf and Rabbitwerder with the Mecklenburg was discontinued and the offer was integrated into the new 3-lake route, which was operated from the Boizenburg up to and including 2012. Intermediate landing stages have been served exclusively by round trips since 2013.
Ships
The White Fleet currently consists of five ships in service.
| ship | Berlin | Hamburg | Elfriede | Luebz | Schwerin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Construction year | 1980 | 1977 | 1921 | 1973 | 1979 |
| shipyard | Berlin yacht yard | Elbe shipyard Boizenburg | Berlin-Koepenick | Mukrena | Elbe shipyard Boizenburg |
| Width (m) | 5.1 | 5.1 | 3.8 | 5.1 | 5.1 |
| Length (m) | 28.5 | 28.5 | 19.9 | 39.58 | 39.54 |
| Seats (inside) | 72 | 72 | 32 | 142 | 120 |
| Seats (upper deck) | 60 | 60 | 13 | 144 | 112 |
There is also the Vaasa (formerly Saalefee ), which has not been used for passenger traffic since 1990 and is now used as an office ship.
The seagull was transferred to the Neustadt-Glewe / Grabow passenger shipping company in 1999 and was underway on the southern waters of Mecklenburg and was still frequently seen on Lake Schwerin. Since the start of the 2014 season she has been at home in Berlin (boat rental Fangrot), the Vidin was handed over in 2001 and sails as the Spree in the Berlin area (Kutzker shipping company), for which the more capacious Lübz (formerly Köpenick ) has been acquired. The Mecklenburg (formerly: Soviet friendship , Schwerin , Hindenburg ) left the Schwerin waters on November 1, 2011 after 86 years in the direction of Heidelberg and was used there from August 2012 to the end of 2015 as Liselotte von der Pfalz for ferry connections on the Neckar ; the ship was only used sporadically from 2005 in Schwerin. In December 2015 the ship was sold to Switzerland, since 2016 she has been operating as "MS Murten" on the lake of the same name. On October 8, 2012, after exactly 9,300 days, the Hamburg (formerly: Tallinn ) left Lake Schwerin and will in future also be used by the Kutzker shipping company (Grünheide, near Berlin), where the former Vidin (now in use as the Spree ) , are used under the name Danube . For the 2013 season, the Boizenburg was renamed Hamburg .
From 1975 to 1979 the Tallinn planing boat, imported from the Soviet Union, also sailed on Schwerin waters. Other ships were no longer in the possession of the White Fleet Schwerin since the 1960s.
Driving operation
Lake trips 2020
The 2020 journey will take place from May 18 (delayed due to the corona pandemic) to December 20.
The Weisse Flotte Schwerin offers two routes for 1.5 hours of lake cruises across the Schwerin lakes.
- 4-lake route , duration 1.5 hours, daily all season
- From the castle pier, it goes past the Werdervorstadt over the Schweriner See, the Stangengraben into the Heidensee, Ziegelinnensee (Hotel Speicher), then back to the pier with a view of the castle from the lake side.
- Big Island Line , duration 1.5 hours, daily until the end of September
- From the castle jetty, head towards Zippendorf and Rabbitwerder island in the Stangengraben, over the Heidensee back over the Stangengraben into the Schweriner See, then with a view of the castle from the lake side back to the jetty (also runs in the opposite direction).
There is also the Erdinger twilight trip, a romantic evening tour in the Zigelaussensee and Ziegelinnensee with a stop at the Speicher pier. This special trip takes 2.5 hours and always takes place on Saturday (June to August) and Wednesday (July and August).
The fleet parade, the official start of the season for the Weisse Flotte Schwerin, unfortunately had to be canceled on April 25, 2020. Here all five ships would have sailed TOP flagged over the Schwerin inner and Heidensee.
It is also possible to charter the ships.
