A trip on the Alster steamer has been a must for Hamburg tourists for many decades. Whether twilight cruises, canal, fleet, Vierlande or Alster cruises - the offer is diverse. The "White Fleet" is one of the city's landmarks. What is difficult to imagine nowadays, when everything has to go faster and faster:for 125 years - from 1859 to 1984 - the Alster ships were a popular means of transport in daily commuter traffic in the Hanseatic city. After a break of more than 30 years, there is now a discussion in Hamburg about whether there could soon be a comeback:the CDU has proposed resuming Alster Linien shipping. "Schipping on the Alster instead of bad bus noise and frustration in traffic jams," is the demand from the opposition party.
First Alster steamer "Alina" started in 1859
The insurance broker Gustav Adolph Droege was the first to come up with the idea of setting up a regular steamboat service on the Alster. After years of examination, he received the license from the Senate in 1856. Droege wanted to take a Rhine ship for the company - but the paddle steamer "Stadt Mülheim" broke a leak in 1857 while crossing from the Rhine to the Elbe. So it was on June 15, 1859, the screw steamer "Alina" from the Hamburg shipbroker Johann Peter Parrau that gave the go-ahead for shipping on the Alster. The steamboat, built at the Reiherstieg shipyard in Hamburg, started scheduled services from Jungfernstieg to Mühlenkamp and to Eppendorf.
Ferry connections between the Uhlenhorster ferry house and the Harvestehude ferry dam as well as other providers were added later. These merged with Parrau in 1860 to form a transport association with a coordinated timetable and a uniform fare system. They used the feeders collectively. The steamers ran every 10 or 20 minutes. In 1877 the ships sailed into the Eilbek Canal for the first time and from 1890 even as far as Von-Essen-Strasse in Eilbek. At the time, businessman Otto Wichmann was the sole owner of the entire Alster fleet. At that time, horse-drawn trams were the main competition.
Up to eleven million passengers in the heyday
At the beginning of the 20th century - the heyday of the Alster regular service - about 30 steamships were in use on the Alster. In 1911, the Alster steamers carried around eleven million passengers - even at night every 30 minutes. The ships received their completely white paint as early as 1902 - so it is the year of birth of the "White Fleet".
In 1919, after the end of the First World War, Hamburger Hochbahn AG received the transport monopoly in Hamburg and was obliged to buy up Alsterdampfschiffahrts-GmbH as well. 37 steamers, five barges and four barges were available - but their operation initially did not pay off. In the middle of the inflation period, the Hochbahn leased the Alster shipping to the towing company Lütgens &Reimers. This started in 1924 with a new range of services, including to the city park. In addition to 14 overhauled ships from the old fleet, barges from the port were also used.
Decline in passengers in the 1920s
But the advent of trams, buses, and subway lines in the 1920s saw passenger numbers drop on the slower ships. In that decade, around six million people per year used the steamer, a decade later it was already less than four million. In 1935, the Hochbahn took over operations again and put ten motor ships into service by 1939, which ran on three different lines - to the Winterhuder Fährhaus, to Mühlenkamp and through the Eilbek Canal to Von-Essen-Straße. Some of the ships are still sailing today.
Intermission in World War II
During the Second World War, the Alster ships were not in action. Nevertheless, some were hit by bombs and destroyed. After the war ended in 1946, the journeys started again. However, the line to Barmbek-Süd was not reactivated for the time being - due to the almost complete destruction of the district.
1965 integration into the HVV
Around 3.4 million passengers used the service in the 1950s. However, the Alster steamers were no longer able to match the passenger numbers of their heyday. When the Hamburger Verkehrsverbund (HVV) was founded in 1965, Alster ship traffic was integrated. Nevertheless, passenger numbers continued to fall. The subway, tram and bus simply got their passengers to their destinations faster.
Less offer, fewer passengers
For Matthias Kruse, chairman of the Alster Dampfschiffahrt association, a look at the statistics shows that the declining number of passengers was also a direct result of restrictions on services. "With the introduction of a winter break in 1974, Alster liner shipping was deprived of its constant function in the overall public transport network in Hamburg. Operation limited to summer time must inevitably lead to predominantly tourist use," says Kruse. "Another service restriction was the decommissioning of line 53 Jungfernstieg - Mundsburger Bridge at the end of 1975."
End after million deficit in 1984
While Alster liner shipping counted 1.8 million passengers in 1974 and 1975, in the years 1976 to 1981 it was 1.3 to 1.5 million passengers. With the discontinuation of the 20-minute intervals on the remaining lines 51 and 52, the number of passengers fell to one million in 1982. In 1983, to reduce the deficit, the express bus surcharge of the HVV was raised in addition to the normal fare. Only 690,000 passengers were counted in scheduled services. The annual operating deficit increased to DM 1.33 million. On February 7, 1984, the Hamburg Senate therefore decided to stop liner shipping on the Alster. It became the Alster-Kreuz-Fahrt of Alster-Touristik GmbH, which continues to serve the old piers to this day.
Tourism on the Alster increasingly popular
While the number of passengers on scheduled trips decreased, the tourist capacity utilization of the Alster ships increased steadily. Lantern rides at night, for example, were popular in the 1950s. From 1956 coffee trips and eight years later morning pint and canal trips were offered as a supplement to the Alster lines. A gradual focus on excursions, round trips and tourism offers began in 1977.
Today two providers with numerous tours
Today, two providers start their Alster trips from Jungfernstieg. Alster-Touristik GmbH is out and about on the Alster 365 days a year and offers numerous trips. The 18 ships in the fleet carry an average of 400,000 passengers across the Alster every year. The Alsterdampfschiffahrt e.V. offers trips on the historic ship "St. Georg" every year from the end of March to the end of December.