Since November 10 the KELHEIM vessel has been in service for the automobile shipments of BLG LOGISTICS on the Danube. The vessel’s god-mother, Susanne Franz, who is marketing director for Suzuki International Europe, wished the ship well with the saying “may it always have a good trip and smooth sailing.”

With the KELHEIM in service, now there are seven river barges at work for BLG’s business area AUTOMOBILE. Five of the ships travel on the Rhein River and two on the Danube between the automobile terminal Kelheim and the Hungarian port Csepel, which is near Budapest. The KELHEIM, which was formally called the MICHAELA, was retrofitted at the Scheepswerf Niessen in the Dutch city Zwijndrecht.

A 110 meter long auto carrier was made out of the freight barge which can transport 260 automobiles on three decks. A special feature of the barge’s remodeling was the ramp at the ship’s bow. This way the KELHEIM isn’t dependent on the port’s loading/unloading equipment.

The KELHEIM was already busy at work on the day it was christened, November 10. Its first trip was from the Dutch port Werft where it then went upstream to Cologne and picked up its load of Ford automobiles. With this load it went on to the Rhein-Main Canal via the Main River and then down the Danube on to Csepel. There Suzuki cars were loaded on to the vessel and were freighted to Kelheim. Now the KELHEIM commutes regularly between Kelheim and Csepel.