Lux Werft und Schifffahrt GmbH
Lux-Werft und Schifffahrt GmbH is a family-run shipyard in Niederkassel-Mondorf on the Rhine near Bonn, founded by Johann Lux in May 1945, that designs and builds custom passenger vessels and ferries for rivers, canals and lakes in Germany and neighbouring countries. The yard handles the whole process in house — market and site assessment, concept, design, steel construction, interior fitting, transport and launching — and builds roughly three to five passenger ships a year, including catamarans, a trimaran, shallow-draught vessels, barrier-free ships and paddle-steamer style vessels. It has a particular focus on alternative propulsion, having delivered battery-electric, hybrid and methanol fuel-cell passenger ships, and received the 'Binnenschifffahrt' innovation award. Lux also operates its own passenger shipping and ferry businesses, including Rhine ferries and lake fleets, and offers service, maintenance and repair with its own slipway facilities.
Lux-Werft und Schifffahrt GmbH
Lux-Werft und Schifffahrt GmbH is a family-owned shipyard at Mondorf in Niederkassel on the Rhine (river km 660), near Bonn. Founded by shipbuilder Johann Lux in May 1945, the yard has built more than 5,000 small Lux-Nachen boats alongside a numbered series of larger newbuilds, and today delivers around three to five passenger ships per year. Every vessel is treated as a one-off, developed with the customer from first idea through decades of service life, with design, ship technology, electrical engineering and interior architecture all combined under one roof.
Services
- Market analysis and site assessment for new passenger shipping projects
- Concept development, needs analysis, financing and permitting support, expert reports, resale of older vessels
- Complete in-house design: hull, ship technology, electrical systems, interior architecture
- Steel shipbuilding from first cut and keel laying through full outfitting
- Alternative propulsion engineering: battery-electric, hybrid, and methanol fuel-cell systems
- Europe-wide vessel transport by land and water, launching with a mobile slipway, prefabrication and on-site assembly for lakes without waterway access
- Service, maintenance, repair, spare parts supply and on-site repairs; docking on the yard's slipways
- Own operations: passenger shipping fleets and Rhine ferry services (Mondorf–Graurheindorf, Bad Godesberg–Niederdollendorf); Loreley-Linie passenger vessels on the Upper Middle Rhine Valley
Facilities
- Shipbuilding hall built 2012: 94 m long, 35.5 m wide (65.5 m including the steel construction hall), 18 m high
- Five radio-controlled cranes: two 40 t (each with two 20 t trolleys), two 12 t, one 10 t
- Underfloor heating allowing temperature-dependent work year-round; complete build and final outfitting under cover
- Slipway installations for hauling vessels ashore
Vessel Types
- Custom passenger and excursion ships, event and cultural vessels
- Catamarans, a trimaran, gallery ships with bow ramps and panorama lifts
- Paddle-steamer style vessels and refurbished historic ships
- Shallow-draught lightweight vessels for low-water river and canal routes
- Barrier-free ships with lifts, accessible toilets and step-free bow access
- Car and passenger ferries for the Rhine (capacities up to around 42 cars)
- Push and tow boats
Location
- Moselstraße 10–16, 53859 Niederkassel-Mondorf, Germany
- Vessels operate on the Rhine and tributaries, Danube, Weser, Elbe, Berlin waters, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern coastal waters, numerous inland lakes, and waters in Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, France and Luxembourg