Lake Zurich Shipping Company

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Lake Zurich Shipping Company (ZSG)
legal form Corporation
founding 1838 (DGZ)
1890 (ZDG)
Seat Zurich , Switzerland
management Roman Knecht
(Director)
Peter Weber
( Chairman of the Board of Directors )
Number of employees 88 (2008)
sales 19.252 million CHF (2008)
Branch Shipping company
Website www.zsg.ch

The Zürichsee-Schiffahrtsgesellschaft ( ZSG ) is a Swiss licensed company that operates shipping on Lake Zurich . The company is a public company based in Zurich and is under the name Navigation Company of Lake Zurich in the Swiss Commercial Register entered, occurs but to the outside world with the name of Lake Zurich Navigation Company on.

operation area

The ZSG's operational area includes Lake Zurich, Obersee and the Limmat River, which runs through the city of Zurich . The summer timetable (as of 2009) is designed in such a way that there is approximately two-hour intervals for both shores of the lake between Zurich and Rapperswil. There are also the so-called “small tours” from Zurich via Erlenbach to Thalwil and back, as well as in the opposite direction. In addition to scheduled year-round operations, the company also offers various extra and charter trips. The dance, lunch and tours are popular. In the winter season, the company also makes some of its ships available for special occasions such as the Expovina tasting and wine exhibition.

history

The company was formed in 1957 from various mergers and renaming of various predecessor companies, which had been offering commercial ship transports on Lake Zurich since 1834.

In 1835, the first steamship from the company Caspar and Lämmlin, entrepreneurs of steam shipping on the Zurich and Walensee , the steamship Minerva started operations. In 1837 the Linth-Escher company and in 1839 the Republic AG were founded and also operated their own ship under their names.

Share for CHF 400 in the Zurich Steamboat Company on December 28, 1898

In 1838 the three companies merged to form the Zürichsee- und Walenseegesellschaft AG , which after merging with the Dampfbootgesellschaft Linkes Ufer was renamed the Steamboat Company for Lake Zurich (DGZ) . In 1874, the founder of the left bank railway, the Swiss Northeast Railway (NOB), took over the entire fleet of ships on Lake Zurich. In 1900 she took over the steam boat company Wädenswil, founded in 1894 .

When the NOB was nationalized in 1903, ship operations were outsourced to the Zürcher Dampfbootgesellschaft (ZDG) founded in 1890 . In 1957 the company was renamed the Zürichsee-Schiffahrtsgesellschaft (ZSG) due to its technical development.

ZSG has been part of the Zürcher Verkehrsverbund (ZVV) since it was founded in 1990 and is one of eight companies responsible for the market. The market area includes Lake Zurich including Obersee and the Limmat. The usual ZVV zone tickets are valid on the scheduled ships, this also includes the transport of people with the independently operating ZSG-Limmatschifffahrt and the independent Lake Zurich ferry Horgen – Meilen AG.

fleet

The fleet consists (as of 2007) of a total of 17 ships:

  • Paddle steamer City of Zurich , decorated on the occasion of its commissioning 100 years ago (1909)

  • Paddle steamer Stadt Rapperswil on arrival in Rapperswil

  • Panta Rhei and the city ​​of Rapperswil : The youngest and the second oldest ship in the fleet

  • Helvetia in front of the Quaibrücke in Zurich, in the background the Grossmünster

    • Linth (1952)
      1000 people, Bodan, 2 × 365 kW (MAN)
    • Limmat (1958)
      850 people, Bodan, 485 kW (MAN)
    • Waedenswil (1968)
      700 people, Bodan, 442 kW (MAN)
    • Panta Rhei (2007)
      700 people, ÖSWAG , 2 × 442 kW (MAN)

  • Linth before Küsnacht

  • Limmat near Rapperswil

  • Wädenswil near Küsnacht with gold bunny from Lindt & Sprüngli

  • Panta Rhei at Seefeld Quai in Zurich

    • Säntis (1957)
      400 people, Bodan, 331 kW ( MWM )
      300 people, ZSG shipyard, 440 kW (MAN) since renovation winter 2006/2007
    • Albis (1997)
      300 people, Bodan, 2 × 250 kW (MAN)
    • Pan Handle (1998)
      300 people, Bodan, 2 × 250 kW (MAN)
    • Uetliberg (1999)
      300 people, Bodan, 2 × 250 kW (MAN)
    • Bachtel (1962)
      250 people, Bodan, 250 kW (MAN)
    • Zimmerberg (2001)
      150 people, Bodan, 2 × 147 kW (MAN)
    • Forch (2001)
      150 people, Bodan, 2 × 147 kW (MAN)

  • Bachtel , jacked up in the shipyard

  • Zimmerberg , Wädenswil shipping area

  • Forch at Stäfa

  • Three Limmat boats
    • Turicum (1992)
      51 people, Bodan, 2 × 58 kW (MWM)
    • Felix (1993)
      51 people, Bodan, 2 × 58 kW (MWM)
    • Regula (1993)
      51 people, Bodan, 2 × 58 kW (MWM)

  • Turicum in front of the Utoquai

  • Felix in front of the quay bridge

  • Regula on the Limmat

Former ships

  • Etzel (1934)
    First motor ship on Lake Zurich, built by Escher Wyss & Cie. in Zurich; Retired in 2001, revised and handed over to the «Genossenschaft MS Etzel »
  • Au peninsula
  • gull
  • spear
    The three "Landi" boats offer, together with the Etzel during the Swiss National Exhibition , did service in the lower lake basin between the two areas of the exhibition in Zurich in 1939, were taken out of the end of the 1990s. The Au peninsula and the Speer were sold to Holland, the seagull to Belgium. The fourth identical ship duck came after the national exhibition as Oberhofen on Lake Thun .

  • Bachtel in front of the Opera House in Zurich

  • Etzel in front of the Utoquai in Zurich

  • Stäfa as a restaurant ship at the Zurich-Wollishofen district center

The four ships were replaced by the larger Albis type (300 people; Albis , Pfannenstiel , Uetliberg ) and a slightly smaller ship type (150 people; Zimmerberg , Forch ).

  • Ufenau
    The Ufenau was the in 2001, shipping operation Hensa AG in Rapperswil SG sold. It was renamed Davidoff and is stationed in the port of Rapperswil.
  • Glärnisch (1955)
    With the construction of the MS 700 and a lack of prospects for further use, the Glärnisch completed its last course trip with the ZSG on October 15, 2006. During the reduced winter schedule, the rest of the fleet was used again as an anchored exhibition ship at the Expovina wine fair and a farewell trip on December 8, followed by transfer and handover to the new owner in Wädenswil. The “Glärnisch” has served as a restaurant there since spring 2007.

  • Glärnisch as a restaurant ship in Wädenswil

  • Ufenau and Davidoff from Hensa AG in Rapperswil

Decommissioned steam ships of the predecessor companies of today's ZSG:

  • Minerva
    The Minerva was the first steam-powered ship on Lake Zurich. The first trip took place on July 19, 1835; In 1839 the Minerva was relocated to the Walensee for further trips and was replaced by the Republikaner steamer .
  • dolphin
    The Delphin was launched in 1834 and belonged to the United Steamship Company Zurich and Walensee. In the storm night from December 16 to 17, 1850, the dolphin sank and 13 people lost their lives.
  • Helvetia
    The Helvetia was launched in 1875 and was in operation until 1959. It served as a restaurant until 1961, when it was towed to Nuolen and scrapped in 1963.

New acquisitions and withdrawals

As of June 2006, a new 700-person passenger ship built by ÖSWAG in Linz was dismantled and transferred to the ZSG shipyard in Zurich- Wollishofen , where final assembly took place. Due to various delays in delivery, the launch planned for October 2006 finally took place on January 22, 2007, and the first test drives were carried out in mid-February.

A competition was called for the naming, whereupon the seven-member jury selected the name “ Panta Rhei ” from over 1400 suggestions . The ship was christened " MS Panta Rhei " and the official maiden voyage took place on March 26, 2007; regular operations commenced on April 1 at the opening of the 2007 summer season. The ship had to be taken out of service on April 19 should be taken because the "Panta Rhei" had too strong a stern lake, which could damage yachts and moorings. An initial investigation showed that the ship, at 450 tons, had a 15% higher total weight than originally planned and was accordingly deep in the water. The ship was rebuilt from September to January 2008. During the second watering on January 28th, however, it was found that the additional floats had been glued in a leaky manner; the ship had to be repaired again.

The Panta Rhei indirectly replaced the 300-person MS “Glärnisch”. Originally, the Glärnisch was supposed to be used on a trial basis to expand the tourist offer on the Obersee with round trips from Rapperswil and also to improve the development of Ufenau and Pfäffikon SZ . Since the city council of the municipality of Rapperswil-Jona was the only one of the affected lakeside communities to refuse to pay its share of the costs, the ZSG dropped the project. In August 2006, the ship was sold to a boat rental company from Wädenswil, who had the Glärnisch converted into a restaurant ship that was firmly anchored in the port of Wädenswil after its decommissioning in December.

shipyard

The ZSG shipyard in the Zurich district of Wollishofen is part of the ZSG headquarters, which includes the administration building, operating and catering buildings, as well as the operating harbor with ship anchorages for the entire fleet.

The ZSG shipyard
ZSG shipyard in Wollishofen with the city of Zurich jacked up after the shovel broke in August 2010

The shipyard hall with a useful area of ​​over 1100 m² (64 × 18 meters) is fully designed to meet the need to be able to pull the largest type of ship - the paddle steamer with dimensions of 59 × 13 meters - completely into the hall. All “modern” ships have smaller dimensions, in spite of the higher passenger capacity in some cases, whereby the size of the shipyard hall determines the maximum ship dimensions in the case of new acquisitions. The hall allows parallel work on two ships, the size of the MS «Säntis» or smaller, which is practiced for longer-term inspections.

The hall is not designed as a classic dry dock , but is level and is permanently dry. The ships are watered out with a lifting platform and stored on rail-guided supports and frames - similar to a trolley - on which they can be pulled into the hall with cable winches. The watering in is analogous in reverse order.

In contrast to the year-round ferry service between Horgen and Meilen, the ZSG is entirely touristy, with a strongly asymmetrical summer and winter season. This is reflected in the use and capacity utilization of the shipyard, which is usually only used to capacity during the winter season. During this period, ships can be taken out of service for a longer period of time without causing operational bottlenecks.

During the summer season, the shipyard is usually empty and is rented out by ZSG as an event hall. Since it is a pure company yard, ZSG does not carry out any outside orders. This is due to the fact that practically all of the shipyard staff has been trained in a second job that they do for ZSG during the summer season. Despite the seasonally fluctuating supply, the company has a relatively high proportion of year-round employees.

The only notable exception is the FHM , which does not have its own shipyard facilities and its ferries can only enter and leave the water in the ZSG shipyard. So - in coordination with the ZSG's summer timetable - the final assembly of the FS Meilen (II) began in the shipyard in April 2017. The ferry was launched on August 3, 2017 and replaced the FS Meilen (I) on September 24, 2017 after 38 years of operation.

The ZSG area has a standard-gauge siding to the SBB - Wollishofen station directly opposite the Seestrasse that separates the areas. This enables the delivery of materials and supplies. Since the ZSG area lies directly on the bank and cuts through the riverside path, a public passerelle was created through the area when the shipyard and the operations building were rebuilt. To the north and south of the area, ramps lead from the riverside path onto a green roof terrace, which, as a spectator terrace, offers a direct view of the anchorages of the ZSG fleet. As a walkway , the roof terrace leads past the landside front of the shipyard hall, which is glazed at this height to allow a view into the interior.

See also

Web links

Commons : Zürichsee Schifffahrt  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : ZSG-Werft Wollishofen  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Commons : ZSG passenger ships  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Davidoff ( Memento of October 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive )