Pusher tug Mauken. Her spectacular 1:25 scale model was built by Karl Heinz Peschke. It is part of our exhibition on river navigation on deck 9 of the museum.
Inland waterways are an extremely important part of the shipping logistics chain. While they are not „maritime“ because they are not on the sea, the shipping industry relies on navigable rivers and canals to transport goods and passengers. Just like roads and highways, waterways require infrastructure and maintenance. This is where pusher tugs like the „Mauken“ (behind the barge in this picture) play an important role. To keep waterways navigable and safe, structures such as bridges, locks, dikes or navigation signs must be built, maintained and repaired. These and other tasks on Germany’s waterways are the responsibility of the Waterways and Shipping Offices (WSA). According to the latest count from 2018, they operate over 1,300 vessels. And that’s not even counting smaller tugboats, for example. 575 of them have their own propulsion (like the „Mauken“), the rest are mostly barges and platforms.
The „Mauken“ was built in 1996 by the Deutsche Binnenwerften GmbH in Malz, near Berlin. She belongs to the Magdeburg type and is 14.68 m long and 4.17 m wide. She is operated by the WSA Dresden and is still in service on the Elbe.
Her spectacular 1:25 scale model was built by Karl Heinz Peschke. It is part of our exhibition on river navigation on deck 9 of the museum.