Unusual offer: Offenbach district is auctioning Main ferry

If you surf the Internet on the auction and sales portal Ebay, you will usually always find something among the many millions of articles that you have not looked for. One of the undoubtedly unusual auction objects at the moment is the former Main Ferry, which the Offenbach district is auctioning off.

Maintal – the former ferry shuttled between Mühlheim and Maintal-Dörnigheim. Now it is in the Frankfurter Osthafen and is used by the Offenbach district administration as “wagon cable ferry – ferry built in 1963 – ready to go, without a valid ferry certificate” until Monday, December 7th, 4:15 pm.

By Wednesday evening, shortly before 9 p.m., 53 offers had been registered. The price was 2010 euros. Whoever wins the contract at the end, has to pick up and transport the ferry himself. The total length is according to the information 25.50 meters, the width 7.80 meters.

The maximum draft is 75 centimeters. On the loading area of ​​around 67 square meters, the 46 kilowatt diesel engine up to 14 tons of load can be transported.

Former Main ferry is being auctioned by the Offenbach district

The “product description” states that the state of the art reflects the 1960s and 1970s. Various repairs and overhauls were made and the ferry body was renewed on the ground in 2020.

The final end for the ferry connection established around 120 years ago via the Main had sealed the district assembly in June of this year. It would have been possible to operate the ferry on his own, but he had District Committee a deficit of 183,000 euros per year is calculated.

After the business had rested since autumn 2017, at the beginning of July 2019 the Recommissioning a guide rope. With the operator agreed the district then to an end of the contract to avoid litigation. A new operator was not found.

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Main ferry must be picked up and transported yourself

The Taxpayers Association had that Offenbach district Criticized for the ferry because it stayed too long despite alternatives Vehicle have held. The ship was repaired in 2017 after a temporary shutdown for 117,000 euros and then the new one operator been entrusted. After four hours business it became unable to maneuver.

The district wants to check the submitted offers as soon as the auction finished, said one Spokeswoman the administration the Hessian radio. “If it is a fake offer, we will probably not hand over the ferry.”

However, it is pointed out on the platform that a bid obliges one to buy. Anyone who wants to put the ferry into operation needs an inland navigation license and a ferry permit. (hgs)

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