Mecklenburg-West Pomerania: Hanse Sail with 111 ships so far: No fences and tests

The frustration ran deep when the Hanse Sail was canceled two years ago due to the corona pandemic.

Mecklenburg-West Pomerania: Hanse Sail with 111 ships so far: No fences and tests

The frustration ran deep when the Hanse Sail was canceled two years ago due to the corona pandemic. A real Sail feeling didn't come up last year because of the safety measures. Now it should be different.

Rostock (dpa/mv) - The 31st Hanse Sail starts on August 11th in Rostock with 111 registered ships. The provisional Hanse Sail boss Bettina Fust is convinced that she can offer visitors a carefree major event after two difficult years due to the corona virus. "We're back and getting started," said Fust of the German Press Agency. In 2020 the Hanse Sail was completely canceled, last year there were massive restrictions due to restricted visitor areas and test obligations.

"There are no fences planned this year," said Fust. There are no testing requirements, not even on the ships. If necessary, however, it is possible to react quickly to an intensification of the corona pandemic. "All plans are in the drawer." Those responsible appealed to the personal responsibility of the visitors.

According to Fust, the number of 111 registered ships is an expression of the crisis that traditional shipping is currently going through. "We already had 250 ships at the Hanse Sail." But the crisis of traditional ships is older than the corona pandemic or the energy crisis triggered by the Ukraine war.

The chairman of the German umbrella organization for traditional ships, Jan-Matthias Westermann, also drew attention to this. For several years, ship owners have had to deal with a tightening of the Ship Safety Ordinance, which applies the same criteria to traditional ships as to modern passenger shipping. In Germany alone, the number of traditional ships has fallen by around 20 to 85 in the past two years. Because of the Corona crisis, he called for an extension of the deadline for implementing the new regulation.

According to Fust, the Hanse Sail is also affected by the crises: Some operators have adjusted their gymnastics plans to the uncertainty and prefer longer-term tours instead of weekly festivals. There is always a risk that trips will have to be canceled due to bad weather.

Because of the Ukraine war, the Russian tall ships "Mir", "Sedov" and "Krusenstern" will not be there this year. In return, visitors can look forward to the largest ship of this year's Hanse Sail, the Polish full-rigged ship "Dar Mlodziezy" and the German Navy's "Gorch Fock".