The Darchau Ferry is a ferry

Ferry

A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...

 across the Elbe

Elbe

The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...

 river in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. It crosses between Darchau and Neu Darchau

Neu Darchau

Neu Darchau is a municipality in the district Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany....

, both in the state of Lower Saxony

Lower Saxony

Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...

, and is about 80 kilometres (49.7 mi) south-east of the city of Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

.. The ferry boat currently in operation is the Tanja (ex Waal, ex Wijkse Veer).

General information

The ferry itself was built in 1959 at the Scheepswerf en Machinefabriek H. J. Koopman in Dordrecht

Dordrecht

Dordrecht , colloquially Dordt, historically in English named Dort, is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the fourth largest city of the province, having a population of 118,601 in 2009...

, Netherlands, and placed in service on 26 March 1960 as the Waal. From 1960 to 1974 it was operated by the Dutch municipality of Tiel

Tiel

' is a municipality and a town in the middle of the Netherlands.The town is enclosed by the Waal river and the Linge river on the south and the north side, and the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal on the east side. The city was founded in the 5th century AD....

. In 1974 the boat was taken over by the municipality of Wijk bij Duurstede

Wijk bij Duurstede

- The city of Wijk bij Duurstede :The city is located on the Rhine. At Wijk bij Duurstede, the Kromme Rijn branches off, and the main branch is called Lek River downstream from Wijk bij Duurstede....

. It ran there under the name of Wijkse Veer until 1993. Since 1993 the boat has been run as the Tanja Ferry by the municipality of Neu Darchau. It replaced a smaller double-ended ferry of the same name that became the reserve ferry in Neu Darchau in 1997.

Technical information

Tanja is an open, double-ended ferry with ramps at both ends. The wheelhouse

Wheelhouse

Wheelhouse or Wheel-house may refer to a number of topicsIn nautical context*The location of the steering wheel of a boat or ship**Bridge **Pilothouse...

 is located on a bridge in the centre above the vehicle deck. The ferry has a total length of 45.9 metres, a width of 12.1 metres and a draught of 0.7 metres. Its usable transport length is 30.9 metres, its carrying capacity

Carrying capacity

The carrying capacity of a biological species in an environment is the maximum population size of the species that the environment can sustain indefinitely, given the food, habitat, water and other necessities available in the environment...

 140 tonnes. Up to 21 vehicle

Vehicle

A vehicle is a device that is designed or used to transport people or cargo. Most often vehicles are manufactured, such as bicycles, cars, motorcycles, trains, ships, boats, and aircraft....

s or 200 passengers may be carried. The highest weight for a single vehicle is 40 tonnes. The ferry has a top speed of 14 km/h. It is powered by two Scania diesel engines that each drive a Voith Schneider Propeller.