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MS RheinGalaxie arrives at its home port

The new Köln-Düsseldorfer event liner will be celebrating its christening on 22nd April
Reach for the stars with us! MS RheinGalaxie, the new event ship from Köln-Düsseldorfer Deutsche Rheinschiffahrt GmbH, is ready. It will all begin with the ceremonial boat christening on 22nd April.

It’s clear where it is heading: “The Rhine, the final frontier. The year is 2022. These are the voyages of the event ship MS RheinGalaxie”. Sciencefiction fans will know that this is borrowed from the American TV show Star Trek. MS RheinGalaxie may not be setting off into the far corners of the universe, but the launch of the innovative multifunctional boat certainly marks a milestone in Köln-Düsseldorfer’s history.

On-board visit

When “RheinZeit” went on board for a sneakpreview in Düsseldorf at the end of March, the boat was already looking shipshape. The whole interior was cleaned from top to bottom. The large tools had disappeared, as had the buckets of paint, cable drums, ladders, trolleys and a vast collection of toolboxes. MS RheinGalaxie is no longer a building site, a boat in the making, a promise. The event liner is ready for the final steps. Chairs, tables and armchairs are still missing on the main deck, the upper deck with gallery and in the Sky Lounge and Club Lounge. The areas designed using light woods and featuring hard-wearing wood-look flooring are already pleasantly cosy. Visitors can enjoy a unique spatial experience with a lounge feel, helped by the innovative design, the open gallery and the floor-to-ceiling panoramic windows over two levels.

 

Racy and elegant

Impressive light and sound system

Event equipment is installed

View of the stage at the side

Final paintings

“Visitors can enjoy a unique spatial experience with a lounge feel, helped by the innovative design, the open gallery and the floor-to-ceiling panoramic windows”

Dynamic hull

The ship is 85 metres long and 14 metres wide. It has a floor space of around 2,500 square metres and can accommodate up to 1,000 passengers. The total building costs including furnishings, inventory and event equipment came to some 14.5 million euros.

The ship is characterised by the straight axe bow, which clearly stands out from other passenger ships with a curved bow. The elegant yet very dynamic-looking hull features flowing lines. MS RheinGalaxie will mostly be in action in the metropolises of Düsseldorf and Cologne. “The newest member of our fleet offers a unique degree of comfort and luxury and is perfectly suited to spectacular events, company functions, conferences, party cruises and pleasure trips,” announces Chairman of the KD Board Dr Achim Schloemer.

MS RheinGalaxie was originally scheduled to launch in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic caused delays in the construction process. “After the tough restrictions of the last two years, we now see it as a good omen that our new event boat will be finished in time for the start of the new 2022 season. We are looking forward to the christening and of course the many wonderful events that will take place on board the MS RheinGalaxie in the monthsand years ahead,” Schloemer adds. Before MS RheinGalaxie dropped anchor in its home port of Düsseldorf in mid-March, the ship took a short tour around the Netherlands. From the shipyard in Lobith near Emmerich it first travelled to Arnheim. Here, painting work, among other things, was carried out before the ship was lifted out of the water again in Dordrecht for final cleaning of the lowest section of the hull. Lastly, the final, minor steel work was carried out in Werkendam.

Half a million euros in event equipment

The theatre stage positioned at the side of the main deck is a bold feature. The team of five from KD’s Event Equipment department is currently in action. In the coming days, Benedikt Hock and his team will install all the event equipment on board. Not only inside the ship, but also on the open deck. Spotlights and loudspeakers will be suspended from the stage with extreme precision. Light, sound and video will be controlled completely digitally. Around 83 metres of fibre optic cable were laid on the ship for the video equipment alone. “We are entirely flexible so we can meet our customers’ needs,” says Michael Grass, who makes sure that everything appears in the best light. The state-of-the-art technology enables a perfect interplay between light and shadow, colours and shapes.

“We offer the customer a completely finished package,” adds Benedikt Hock. This opens up countless possibilities, including fog machines and LED light shows. “This covers all event formats: conferences, performances by solo artists, readings, panel discussions, product presentations and galas with big bands. We can even create multitrack recordings in studio quality.” The whole lighting concept is very impressive, using direct and indirect lighting effects to create an atmosphere to fit the occasion. “We have invested more than half a million eurosin light and sound alone,” Achim Schloemer explains. “We can hold our own against any event venue on land.

A new milestone

MS RheinGalaxie in Düsseldorf

Open-air dancing area

Aerial view of the top deck

No off-the-peg boat

Like its predecessors MS RheinEnergie and MS RheinFantasie, the event ship MS RheinGalaxie is custom-built. Mirco Fichte sees its construction as his personal moment of glory. The 44-year-old is the MS RheinGalaxie’s captain. “I’ve watched the ship grow from the initial plans through the various stages of construction. As a captain, you only experience something like this once in your career. It’s a wonderful feeling and a huge honour. It makes me happy and proud.” Patrick Höving, who experienced all the phases of the ship’s birth as a technical inspector, feels the same way. He is looking forward to presenting the ship to guests and colleagues. “But above all to my wife Kim, who in the last few months only ever heard, but never saw, what was happening when, and how. For me personally, the RheinGalaxie is a beautiful and elegant ship, and I am very proud to have played a part in this.”

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