The hybrid police boat WS1 ‘Bürgermeister Brauer’ has been handed over to the Port of Hamburg, after a construction period of almost two years at the Estonian shipyard Baltic Workboats.
The boat was transferred to Germany by sea and will start its service with the Hamburg water police in 2025. The 29.4m police boat features an environmentally friendly plug-in hybrid drive with two 500 kW electric motors, enabling a purely electric driving time of at least two hours at seven knots. After completion of the sea trials and training of the crew, the new boat will replace the currently used and aging coastal patrol boat of the same name. The vessel is capable of a maximum speed of over 25 knots, r 12 knots on electric power alone.
The new WS1 is the start of the renewal of Hamburg’s police boat fleet. Soon, the new WS3 Bürgermeister Weichmann, a smaller vessel ship, will arrive in Hamburg and go through the commissioning phase with crew training together with the WS1. During 2025, a third ship, identical to the WS1, is to be delivered.
The Port of Hamburg is actively committed to the transition to more climate neutrality with the goal of becoming climate-neutral by 2040. The promotion of sustainable technologies and energy sources plays a central role in this. Since 2017, Flotte Hamburg has made significant progress. The use of hybrid craft by the water police is another measure to reduce emissions.
Karsten Schönewald, CEO Flotte Hamburg, said: “With the introduction of the first hybrid police boat in the Port of Hamburg, we are taking an important step towards a sustainable future for watercraft. We are proud to equip the water police with low-emission drive technologies and thus actively contribute to the reduction of emissions in our city.”
Olaf Hagenloch, Deputy Head, Hamburg Water Police, added: “With this new means of operation, the Hamburg Water Police will continue to perform their duties in the Port of Hamburg, on the Lower Elbe and in the German Territorial Sea in the usual professional and high quality in the future. The fact that this is now done with an environmentally friendly drive underlines the compatibility of environmental protection and the performance of water protection tasks.”
Image: Hamburg Port’s latest hybrid police patrol craft (source: Hamburg Hafen/Instagram)
