AHTS Unterweser 36. The yard model of the „Unterweser 36“ on a scale of 1:100 is part of our area dedicated to the offshore industry on deck 7 of the museum.
The „Unterweser 36“ was an AHTS: an Anchor Handling Tug Supply vessel. These vessels are tugs built to operate offshore platforms. They are not only supply vessels, but also particularly powerful so that they can handle the platforms‘ huge anchors. They were built to withstand rough sea conditions and are suitable for all the tasks that can be expected of an offshore tug.
This example was built in 1975 at the Schichau Unterweser shipyard in Bremerhaven. Together with other sister ships, she was operated by the Unterweser Reederei AG (URAG), whose home port was Bremen. URAG was founded in Bremen in 1890. Originally, it undertook tugging and other auxiliary services on the inland waterways in its region and was quite successful in doing so. During the First World War, it entered the cargo shipping business. In the interwar period they enlarged and modernised their fleet, only to lose most of it in the Second World War. After the war, the port of Bremen gained in importance partly because the US military used it as a port of embarkation. URAG profited greatly from this business. Since 1989, it has changed hands several times, although it has remained regularly linked to the shipping company HAPAG-Lloyd. Since 2017, it has been owned by the Spanish group Boluda Corporación Marítima. Recently the company has been suffering from increasing competition in the towing business.
The „Unterweser 36“ served URAG until 1987, when she changed ownership, port, and name. She became the „A. H. Baron Banfield“ and operated from the Italian port of Trieste. She did so until 1996 when she became the „Mardive 85“ and had her new home port in Belize. Her owners, the Mardrive Group, operating off Egypt, still have her listed on their website. Yet she appears to have been inactive since 2017.
The shipyard model of the „Unterweser 36“ on a scale of 1:100 is part of our area dedicated to the offshore industry on deck 7 of the museum.