2020-05-13 | Unknown author

Duckdalben International Seamen's Club - Port of Hamburg, Germany

Duckdalben – International Seamen’s Club is the name of the seamen’s club founded in 1986 in the Port of Hamburg by the Deutsche Seemannsmission Hamburg-Harburg e. V.

Every year, around 35,000 seafarers from more than 100 countries are offered practical help and orientation in what is for them a foreign port. Duckdalben is named after the mooring pilings called Dalben (engl.: dolphins). In 2011 it was named the world’s best seamen’s club.

The first seamen’s home in Germany was founded in Bremen; the first seamen’s mission in Germany was established in 1891 in Hamburg. The Duckdalben seamen’s club opened as a facility of the Seemannsmission Harburg on 13 August 1986 on the Zellmannstrasse located beneath the Köhlbrand Bridge in the Duty Free Port (Waltershof). The name is derived from the groups of thick tree trunks that are rammed in the harbour floor for mooring vessels.

In 1986, it all started with a maintenance shed belonging to the port railway. It was later used as an office by the forerunner of today’s Port Authority, and finally chosen as the site for establishing a seamen’s club in the growing container port in Waltershof. The shed was given a brick façade and originally designed to accommodate 15 to 20 visitors. However, the up to 120 seafarers who visited the facility daily soon showed that this first version was much too small. Relief came in 1994 with plans to add a major expansion that included rainwater collection and solar warm water systems, and which was made possible through the generous financial support of the International Transport Workers' Federation ITF. In addition to a spacious, friendly entry hall with telephone booths for undisturbed telephoning, a billiard room and multi-purpose hall were also included. These can be used as table tennis room, meeting room or for celebrations. A non-denominational “Room of Silence” chapel was set up in the upper floor. The expansion was finished in 1995.



In 2003 a conservatory with fireplace was added, which also functions as a library offering several foreign newspapers in addition to books. An annexe was completed in 2015 that serves as office space; this was the third time that the International Seamen’s Club building has been enlarged.[



In church services on 18 August 2018, Port Chaplain Jörn Hille was formally inducted in the position of Ship Visitor. Due to the short layover times that ships remain in port, many seamen do not have time to visit Duckdalben. Visits on board the vessels are often the remedy. Very important for the seafarers are the telephone, top-up and SIM-cards that Jörn Hille and his colleagues have in their packs. Before visiting a ship, they consult the club data base to see which nationalities are on board the vessel and gathers news on the seamen’s home countries to take on board.

Unknown author