Double naming ceremony at Hamburg’s Landungsbrücken: On Sunday, two police workboats were given their names.
“Bürgermeister Brauer” and “Bürgermeister Weichmann” have been in service since spring 2025. They replace their 30-year-old predecessors and mark an important step towards sustainable shipping in the Hanseatic city.
The naming ceremony took place as part of this year’s Port Birthday. The “Bürgermeister Brauer” was christened by Senator for Economic Affairs Melanie Leonhard (SPD), while actress Rhea Harder-Vennewald christened the “Bürgermeister Weichmann”.
The two new police boats were built in the Estonian shipyard Baltic Workboats and are equipped with an environmentally friendly plug-in hybrid drive. The powerful electric motors, each with 500 kW, enable a purely electric travel time of at least two hours at a speed of seven knots. They were delivered to the Hamburg fleet in December last year.
“A strong signal for modern shipping”
“With today’s double christening, we are sending a strong signal for modern, sustainable shipping in the Port of Hamburg,” said Karsten Schönewald, Managing Director of Flotte Hamburg. “Flotte Hamburg has been pooling its urban watercraft since 2017 and has already made significant progress. The use of hybrid watercraft by the water police is a further measure to reduce emissions.”
Olaf Hagenloch, Deputy Head of the Hamburg Waterway Police: “The new boats are not only technical masterpieces, they are also a symbol of change. With the hybrid drive, we are actively protecting the environment – without compromising our operational strength. This is what sustainable and modern police work on the water looks like.”
The Port of Hamburg is actively pursuing the goal of becoming climate-neutral by 2040 and is increasingly focusing on the transition towards greater climate neutrality. Two new pilot transfer vessels, the first of which has already been delivered, will be able to run on e-fuels in future. In April, work also began on the construction of two fully electric workboats at the H. Barthel shipyard in Derben.
