A model making waves: Flotte Hamburg wins first customer outside Hamburg

Flotte Hamburg GmbH & Co. KG, responsible for Hamburg’s overarching ship fleet management since 2017, has won its first customer outside the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg: In future, Flotte Hamburg will manage four coastal patrol boats belonging to the Lower Saxony State Police. The corresponding cooperation will start on 1 September 2026. For Flotte Hamburg, the cooperation is an important milestone in the company’s development and a challenging assignment for the further expansion of our special-purpose fleet.

Dr Melanie Leonhard, Senator for Economic Affairs, Labour and Innovation: “The fact that Flotte Hamburg is operating for another federal state for the first time shows that our model has proven its worth. Hamburg has built up a great deal of experience in managing its public ship fleet. Making use of this expertise together with Lower Saxony now makes sense – and is a good example of cooperation in northern Germany. Especially as resilience and the protection of critical infrastructure are becoming increasingly important, it is a major advantage to make use of existing expertise together.”

Daniela Behrens, Minister for the Interior, Sport and Digitalisation of Lower Saxony: “Lower Saxony and Hamburg have always enjoyed close and trusting cooperation in the maritime sector. The challenges we face as coastal states can best be overcome together and in partnership. By making use of Flotte Hamburg’s services, we are therefore taking another step towards a holistic, overarching and resilient operation of this highly complex technical field. Both states will benefit from the resulting synergies – in particular through greater availability of our coastal boats and by jointly gaining significantly more weight in the market for government vessels. In addition, the close cooperation opens up opportunities to jointly drive innovation forward. In this way, we are not only strengthening the operational capabilities of the water police forces in Lower Saxony and Hamburg, but are also making an important contribution to the future viability and security of our maritime infrastructure.”

Jens Meier, CEO of Hamburg Port Authority: “Efficient maritime infrastructure does not end at state borders. Hamburg and Lower Saxony depend on functioning waterways, safe ports and reliable maritime services. The cooperation between Flotte Hamburg and the Lower Saxony State Police demonstrates how collaboration can make our structures more resilient and future-proof.”

Karsten Schönewald, Managing Director of Flotte Hamburg: “We are very pleased to have won the Lower Saxony State Police as our first customer outside Hamburg. This is an important milestone for Flotte Hamburg and, at the same time, confirmation of our business model and maritime expertise. We can now put our experience in the professional technical and commercial management of ships to use for our partner in Lower Saxony as well. At the same time, we are jointly creating the conditions for a modern and future-proof fleet.”

Four coastal boats to be taken over and managed

As part of the cooperation, Flotte Hamburg will take over the coastal boats “W2”, “W3”, “W4” and “W5” at their market value. The vessels will then be chartered to the Lower Saxony State Police under a bareboat charter, i.e. a charter without crew. The operational use of the boats, including ensuring their availability, will therefore remain with the State Police. The four existing coastal boats are to be gradually replaced by modern and environmentally friendly newbuilds. As a first step, the replacement of one of the boats is planned.