In the summer, Michael Grießer sounded a little different. “No,” said the managing director of Bavarian Lake Shipping just a few months ago, “I really never need a season like that.” With these words, Grießer was referring to the series of mishaps on Lake Starnberg. One ship after the other failed there due to various technical defects: The Seeshaupt According to the shipping boss, it was “unusual” wear and tear damage to the coupling. The only fully electrically powered ship Mountain, A defect in the electronics caused the ship to drift near Rose Island, which also damaged the screw.
At the Starnberg The clutch was damaged: “The vibration damper tore apart,” says Grießer. Why? “Nobody knows that yet, the ship was completely overhauled in the winter of 2022.” And the Bavaria It couldn’t be used anyway because of a leak, but because of all the breakdowns on the other ships it couldn’t be lifted out of the water to check how bad the damage really was. For Grießer, this is a situation that he has never experienced before during his time as managing director of lake shipping. “It’s maddening,” he said at the time.
In 2021, Lake Shipping put the first fully electric ship on Lake Starnberg, the “Berg”, into operation. In the picture on the left, Managing Director Michael Grießer can be seen on this occasion with Finance Minister Albert Füracker and Family Minister Ulrike Scharf.
(Photo: Nila Thiel)
Now, after the end of the season, he is smiling all over his face again. “We have almost reached the number of passengers before Corona again,” he says. Around 511,000 people sailed across Lake Starnberg and Ammersee this year. For comparison: in 2019 there were 514,000, last year, i.e. 2022, there were 512,000. “So we were able to catch up quite a bit this year,” says Grießen – despite the limited timetable on the Starnberg until the end of the season after the breakdowns Lake. There was a 20 percent decline in passenger numbers there in the summer, and at the end of the season the decline leveled off to just 15 percent. In absolute terms, there were around 185,000 passengers traveling on Lake Starnberg. In 2019 there were 226,000 there.
The Ammersee – which has already had a higher number of passengers for years – compensated for the declining numbers on Lake Starnberg. There, the lake shipping counted around 325,000 passengers, as the passengers of the excursion steamers are correctly called, significantly more than before Corona when there were 290,000. “The beautiful weather in autumn also played into our hands,” said Grießer.
This was also noticeable in the other lakes. At Tegernsee, for example, the level before Corona has not yet been reached again, but they are still satisfied. Surveys there showed that many passengers switched from Lake Starnberg to Lake Tegernsee to be on the safe side. By the end of the year – the ships will still be used there as commuter ships at the Christmas markets and during the Christmas holidays – Grießer expects around a quarter of a million passengers. Before Corona, in 2019, there were more than 280,000 there: “We are missing the many bus trips there that no longer exist to the same extent as before. You know: the organizers are missing bus drivers.”
For this reason, Grießer does not expect passenger numbers at Königssee to reach the level before Corona – even though ships operate there all year round. At the moment, however, there is one less thing: Instead of 18, there are only 17 this year, because one of the larger ships Staufen, is being completely renovated. In addition, there are the modifications to the ships there, which are already smaller compared to Lake Starnberg and Ammersee: “We expanded seats during the Corona period so that people don’t sit so close to each other.” That is the reason why the previous figures can no longer be fully achieved. This year, Grießer estimates there will be 675,000 to 700,000 instead of “far more than 700,000” as before the pandemic.
In winter, jetties and ships are overhauled
The winter months are now traditionally used again for work on ships and jetties. This is how it comes to Ammersee augsburg According to Grießer, she was going to the dry dock this year because she was due for a shore inspection, a kind of ship’s TÜV inspection. On the Diessen The sunroof is also to be replaced and the steamer jetties in Utting and Schondorf are to be renovated. At Lake Starnberg, on the other hand, there are plans to equip the steamer jetties in Berg and Seeshaupt with gates that will only be opened when ships dock and depart there. The reason for this is the many bathers who jump from the jetty into the water or swim in these areas every year: “An enormous safety risk,” as Grießer says, which is why these places have repeatedly not been accessible.
The head of maritime shipping hopes to be able to solve the problem now. And then there’s the matter of that Bavaria on Lake Starnberg: She has finally been on land recently, says Grießer. An external expert is scheduled to examine the damage to the ship in November. If at all possible, it will be repaired and used again on Lake Starnberg next season.