Museum ships back in Duisburg Ruhrort

The two floating cultural monuments of the Museum der Deutschen Binnenschifffahrt lay in the Meiderich shipyard during the winter months, where the necessary maintenance work was carried out.

The 30-minute towing over around 5,5 kilometers from harbor basin B to Ruhrort went smoothly. The current, on the section from the harbor canal via the "open stream" into the harbor mouth, did not pose a great challenge for the push boats.
The inspection takes place approximately every ten years. Important inspections are carried out: watertightness check, bottom measurements, inspection of dinghies, cranes, anchors, etc.
Now the more than 100-year-old "Oscar Huber" can be visited and admired again. A new photo exhibition awaits visitors on deck. Current photos of the work in the shipyard are shown, documenting what needs to be regularly restored or serviced on a historic steel ship and what the process is like.

Hintergrund:
The museum ship "Oscar Huber", built in 1922, is a unique cultural monument. Up until the 1960s, the wheeled boat pulled up to seven non-powered barges with their freight per voyage. It stands for a technology that has been in use for more than 100 years. Towards the end of the 1950s push boats with diesel engines appeared and gradually replaced the tugboats. The "Oscar Huber" was the only wheeled tugboat on the Rhine that escaped scrapping. The crane ship "Fendel 147" is located directly on the "Oscar Huber".
The "Fendel 147" was built in 1922 by Schiffs- und Maschinenbau AG in Mannheim as a completely riveted steel ship. The non-powered barge initially served the Mannheim shipping company Fendel under the name "Rheinfahrt 3". After a few years, the barge was converted into a crane ship. In 1988 she was decommissioned as unprofitable. The last crane ship on the Rhine has been in the possession of the Museum der Deutschen Binnenschifffahrt as a technical monument since 1994 thanks to a donation from the Stinnes shipping company. In recent years, the ship has largely been restored to its 1920s condition. After a thorough renovation in 2012, the "Fendel 147" is the third museum ship next to "Oscar Huber" and "Minden" at the mouth of the Ruhrort harbor.

Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to 17 p.m.
Cost: Admission is €3 for adults and €1,50 for children.

Museum of German Inland Navigation
Apostle Street 84
47119 Duisburg

Tel. 0203/283 94140
service@binnenschifffahrtsmuseum.de

Further information at: https://www.binnenschifffahrtsmuseum.de/

The Museum of German Inland Navigation is the anchor point of the Route of Industrial Culture.

Photos: City of Duisburg