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Labe-Elbe (ex - Weserstolz, ex - Wappen von Minden, ex - Labe) Operating
Area : River Elbe (at Decin, Czechia)
Above : Labe-Elbe at Decin on 23rd September 2022 after
refurbishment for planned service on the River Labe. Photo by kind
courtesy of Bernd Gross
Built in 1940-49 by Praga
Shipyard, Lodenice, Prague
Dimensions : 55.8 metres x 5.1 / 9.1 metres
Displacement 120 t : Draught 0.63 m - 0.72 m (empty/full)
Engines : Compound Diagonal : 330mm and 667mm x 650mm stroke : 153 HP at 45 rpm
Reboilered : 2000
Schottel units fore and aft
Passenger capacity 200 : Technical crew 2
Entered service as Labe nine
years after her keel was laid as World War II intervened
Sailed for the Prague PPS company, primarily on the route from Prague
to the Slapy dam.
Aft Deck Saloon built in 1977
Withdrawn from service in 1987, retaining her coal fired boiler
Offered on long-term charter for use on the River Weser at
Minden, Germany
Sponsors were to be a company involved in local economic development
and youth training
Sank at her moorings in September 1997, spending four weeks
underwater putting the Minden venture temporarily in doubt
Taken to the Laubegast Yard at Dresden in 1998 for attention to the
hull and moved to Minden , arriving on November 1st
Refurbishment undertaken with the involvement unemployed young people
in Minden.
Reboilered in 2000 and now oil fired
Owned
by the Mindener Entwicklungs- und Wirtschaftsforderungsgesellschaft
(MEW) - an economic development company for the town of Minden fully
owned by the town itself
Returned to service in 2001 under the name Wappen von
Minden operated by the Mindener Fahrgesellschaft (until 2010)
In 2011 she was used primarily as a static restaurant ship as she was losing money on her operations
Operated
under lease with a purchase option since 2012 by the private Flotte
Weser company on various Weser River trips usually from Minden -
but without financial success
In early 2015 she was bought jointly by the
Flotte Weser and the Hal Over
Gesellschaft and moved to a new base in Bremen
Renamed Weserstolz
Latterly
out of service and up for sale
Bought in early 2022 by Czech
ship operator Labska Plavebni Spolecnost (owner Martin Komrska) and returned to Decin on the Labe/Elbe in April 2022
Renamed Labe-Elbe
Above : Profile view of Labe-Elbe at Decin on 23rd September 2022 Photo by kind courtesy of Bernd Gross. See more from this day here
Above : Internal view of the refurbished Labe-Elbe on 23rd September 2022 Photo by kind courtesy of Bernd Gross. See more from this day here
Above
: Labe-Elbe made a first return to her former home city of Prague on
16th March 2023. Photo by kind courtesy of Bernd Gross
Above : As Wappen von Minden - seen in Bremen in 2009 in a photo by Juergen
Howaldt, kindly made available for general publishing under Creative
Commons SA 3.0 (Germany) licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en
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