Raseborg says no to Anny von Hamburg

Västra Nyland's article

Translation from Swedish to English:

Raseborg cannot allocate long-term berths in the North Port

The technical committee in Raseborg gave a thumbs down to both the sailing ship Anny von Hamburg and the pilot and work boat M/S Stark. The owners of the ships had applied for long-term berths in the North Port in Ekenäs,

24th Feb 2023 by Johanna Lemström

The technical committee in Raseborg had two applications for long-term berths on the agenda on Tuesday. The committee had to state that there is no requirement to allocate any long-term berths in the North Port in Ekenäs right now.

The piers in the North Port are mainly reserved and at the quay edges in the port there should be free space for visiting larger ships, so no long-term permanent berths can be allocated there either, the committee states. The same justifications were used when the committee said no thanks to M/S Rosita last year.

- I'm a little disappointed, but no "hard feelings" says Juha Pokka, one of the owners of the three-masted sailing ship Anny von Hamburg.

A berth in Åland instead

The Anny von Hamburg is 27 meters long and also has a bowsprit of 10 meters. Her draft is 2.66 meters. She was built in 1914.

Pokka owns the ship together with his friend and partner Jan Rautawaara. They wanted Anny to get a berth at the restaurant GH Fyren in Ekenäs, preferably where the Sunnan II was anchored earlier. The Sunnan was later moored at Knipan and was then sold to Åland. Now it looks like Anny will also land in an Åland port.

- We have been given a berth in the Eastern Port of Mariehamn, in the Maritime Quarter, says Pokka

He himself lives in Österby in Ekenäs, and his company Gretacargo is also registered in Ekenäs, he says. Of course, he would have preferred that Anny had been given a berth in the city, and that Ekenäs had become her home port instead of Mariehamn. The plan was to start charter trips with Anny from Ekenäs in the spring of 2024.

- Ekenäs is so conveniently located, halfway between Abo and Helsinki, I think it is a bit short-sighted of the city not to see the possibilities. We would bring customers to the city who leave money behind, says Pokka.

The city of Raseborg does not have the opportunity to allocate long-term berths in the Northern Port of Ekenäs, neither at the quay at the restaurant GH Fyren nor at the pier at the restaurant Knipan.

A trip to Ekenäs will probably be for Anny von Hamburg anyway.

- We will take her to Ekenäs to be rigged here this autumn, says Pokka, who is himself a master rigger.

Judging of the emails beteen him and City Manager Petra Theman it appears that Anny's new mast will be manufactured by Eke-Marin in Västerby this spring and that the timber will come from Fiskars or Evois in Hämeenlinna.

"We do not have such facilities"

From the city's side, they have also looked at the pier next to the Knipan restaurant, if it could be an alternative, but if it were allocated, 10 to 12 buoy places for deep-draft boats would disappear. It would worsen the prospects of running the guest harbor, it is stated.

The second matter concerned a long-term berth in the North Harbor. concerned the ship M/S Stark. The ship is used as a workhorse for transport, towing, sea assistance and icebreaking and is owned by Ekenäs resident Lars Grandell. But the 18.5-meter-long M/S Stark cannot be granted a long-term berth in the North Port either, the technical committee decided.

The committee's chair Britt Marie Granström, SFP, says that the motivation is the same as for Anny, as well as for M/S Rosita last year.

- The problem is that we do not have such a place to allocate today, but work on the North Port's detailed plan is about to begin and it is expected to open up the possibility of new berths, among other things, she says.

However, the committee decided to reserve the berth west of the lifting point next to the Lighthouse for charter traffic, archipelago cruises and connecting traffic. The quayside should be available for this type of traffic and therefore no permanent berth is allocated here. The quayside should be free from 1 June, the committee decided. The ships Tyr and Ursus usually anchor there.

A booking system, reservation times and the fee for docking at the quay will be discussed separately by the technical committee later this spring.