The "Peking" at her berth in New York
(updated version) As Bild.de reports today, the legendary Flying P-Liner "Beijing" was saved from scrapping after "a warm rain of money from Berlin".
The Flying P-Liner in front of the Manhattan skyline
Yesterday, "the budget committee of the Bundestag unanimously decided in favor of the port millions," as the report says. "Member of the Bundestag Johannes Kahrs (SPD), who fought for the mega-grant from Berlin, reveals: 'The ship will be on piles across from the Elbphilharmonie.'"
The need for renovation becomes clear below deck
The four-masted barque, built by Blohm + Voss in 1911, has been in New Yord for years (the YACHT reported in issue 23/2013) and is hardly in a buoyant condition. "For renovation, transfer with a dock ship, berth are estimated at 26 million euros," writes the online portal. "Hamburg pays the operating costs."
The Hamburg Maritime Foundation has published the following press release:
PEKING is coming home
Hamburg, November 12th, 2015 - The budget committee of the Bundestag has decided to support the construction of a port museum in Hamburg as well as the transfer of the four-masted barque PEKING from New York and its subsequent restoration as a museum ship with a federal grant of 120 million euros. The Hamburg Historical Museums Foundation will receive the funding.
The PEKING freighter, one of the legendary "Flying P-Liners" of the Hamburg shipping company F. Laeisz, built by Blohm + Voss in Hamburg in 1911, can now return to its home port after many years in New York.
The Hamburg Maritime Foundation (SHM) would particularly like to thank the Hamburg member of the Bundestag Johannes Kahrs for his commitment to the maritime heritage of our city.
The restored PEKING will be a central eye-catcher for the listed 50s Kaischuppen, opposite the Elbphilharmonie and an enrichment for the Olympic concept 2024.
Joachim Kaiser, board member of SHM: "Both the PEKING and the BLEICHEN, which is currently under restoration, will later become the central display objects of the future port museum. The listed 50s quay sheds in the Hamburg harbor, also owned by the Hamburg Maritime Foundation, are equipped with historical storage sheds, Harbor cranes and freight wagons are the ideal location for a German Harbor Museum."
Nikolaus H. Schües, partner of the shipping company F. Laeisz and chairman of the board of trustees of the SHM: "The people of Hamburg are proud of their port and the shipping companies located here, the maritime heritage is in everyone's blood. With the new port museum and the restored PEKING this will be brought even more to the fore. I am therefore very pleased with the decision of the members of the Bundestag."
The listed restoration of the PEKING and its conversion as a museum ship are expected to be completed in 2018. The final berth will be created in close cooperation with the Hamburg Historical Museums Foundation at the Hamburg Harbor Museum, less than two kilometers from the place where it was launched in 1911.