Shipping - Lifting bags have arrived: Lake Constance wreck to be lifted in March
The planned lifting of a 130-year-old ship from the bottom of Lake Con stance is entering the hot phase. The twelve lifting bags with which the wreck is to be brought to the surface from a depth of 210 meters arrived in Romanshorn on the Swiss shore of Lake Constance shortly before Christmas, as the president of the ship salvage association, Silvan Paganini, told the German Press Agency. The bags had been ordered in China and were first shipped to Hamburg and then brought to Switzerland.
The deadline for authorities and organizations in Germany, Austria and Switzerland to object to the project expired on 31 December. The association, which was founded to raise the "Säntis", will find out in the coming weeks whether anyone will object. "We are confident that everything will go according to plan," said Paganini.
The "Säntis" was no longer fit to sail and was scuttled in May 1933. It lies in the middle of the lake between Romanshorn and Langenargen on the German side. Scrapping it was rejected as too expensive at the time. The 48-metre-long ship had been sailing on Lake Constance since 1892. It could carry 400 passengers.
Salvage is due to begin at the beginning of March. The ship is to be raised with lifting bags and a salvage platform and stored at a depth of around twelve meters closer to the shore. It should then be fully salvaged at the beginning of April.
Time is of the essence, said Paganini. Firstly, because the association is allowed to use the shipyard in Romanshorn free of charge for 14 weeks from March. "But also because of the quagga mussels," explained Paganini. The introduced species has been spreading in Lake Constance for a few years. The mussels could soon cover the wreck in a thick layer. This has already happened to some wrecks at shallower depths, he said. "The wreck of the steamship "Jura" off Bottighofen is now just a large pile of quagga shells." There were also shells on the chimney of the "Säntis", which was salvaged in July.
The association, which has around 30 members, has raised 260,000 Swiss francs (around 280,000 euros) for the salvage material and conservation of the wreck in addition to donations in kind via crowdfunding. A berth for two years after the salvage has already been found, said Paganini. The "Säntis" is to be put on display. Whether in Switzerland was still unclear. "We don't have a commitment yet and are open."
Paganini, technical operations manager at Schweizerische Bodenseeschifffahrt, worked in the offshore oil and gas industry for a long time. What attracted him to the project was how the lift could be achieved with little money and without large crane structures. "The depth of the water is exciting and you have to use a few tricks," he said.
Quagga mussel in Lake Constance The Schiffsbergeverein
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- The lift of the 130-year-old ship from Lake Constance will begin in March, as announced by Silvan Paganini to the German Press Agency.
- The "Säntis," a 130-year-old ship, was scuttled in May 1933 and is now resting between Romanshorn and Langenargen on the German side of Lake Constance.
- The twelve lifting bags used for lifting the ship from a depth of 210 meters arrived in Romanshorn before Christmas, as reported by the president of the ship salvage association.
- The German Press Agency distributed the news of the arriving lifting bags, which were ordered in China and shipped first to Hamburg before reaching Switzerland.
- The association, founded to salvage the "Säntis," will find out if any objections to the project were filed by German, Austrian, or Swiss authorities by the end of December.
- Paganini, the technical operations manager at Schweizerische Bodenseeschifffahrt, expressed confidence that the project would proceed smoothly, with the wreck being lifted with lifting bags and a salvage platform.
- The "Säntis," which has been resting at the bottom of the Bodensee (Lake Constance) since 1933, will first be lifted to a depth of twelve meters and then fully salvaged in April.
- Paganini highlighted the urgency of the project, as the quagga mussels, an invasive species that have been spreading in Lake Constance, could soon cover the wreck in a thick layer, as seen with other wrecks.
Source: www.stern.de
