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Labe-Elbe   (ex - Weserstolz, ex - Wappen von Minden, ex - Labe)        Operating Area : River Elbe (at Decin, Czechia)

Above : Labe-Elbe at Decin on 23rd September 2022 after refurbishment for planned service on the River Labe. Photo by kind courtesy of Bernd Gross


Built in 1940-49 by Praga Shipyard, Lodenice, Prague
Dimensions : 55.8 metres x 5.1 / 9.1 metres
Displacement 120 t : Draught 0.63 m - 0.72 m (empty/full)
Engines : Compound Diagonal : 330mm and 667mm x 650mm stroke : 153 HP at 45 rpm
Reboilered : 2000
Schottel units fore and aft
Passenger capacity 200 : Technical crew 2


Entered service as Labe nine years after her keel was laid as World War II intervened
Sailed for the Prague PPS company, primarily on the route from Prague to the Slapy dam.
Aft Deck Saloon built in 1977
Withdrawn from service in 1987, retaining her coal fired boiler
Offered on long-term charter for use on the River Weser at Minden, Germany
Sponsors were to be a company involved in local economic development and youth training
Sank at her moorings in September 1997, spending four weeks underwater putting the Minden venture temporarily in doubt
Taken to the Laubegast Yard at Dresden in 1998 for attention to the hull and moved to Minden , arriving on November 1st
Refurbishment undertaken with the involvement unemployed young people in Minden.

Reboilered in 2000 and now oil fired
Owned by the Mindener Entwicklungs- und Wirtschaftsforderungsgesellschaft (MEW) - an economic development company for the town of Minden fully owned by the town itself

Returned to service in 2001 under the name Wappen von Minden operated by the Mindener Fahrgesellschaft (until 2010)
In 2011 she was used primarily as a static restaurant ship as she was losing money on her operations
Operated under lease with a purchase option since 2012 by the private Flotte Weser company on various Weser River trips usually from Minden - but without financial success
In early 2015 she was bought jointly by the Flotte Weser and the Hal Over Gesellschaft and moved to a new base in Bremen
Renamed Weserstolz
Latterly out of service and up for sale
Bought in early 2022 by Czech ship operator 
Labska Plavebni Spolecnost (owner Martin Komrska) and returned to Decin on the Labe/Elbe in April 2022
Renamed Labe-Elbe


Above : Profile view of Labe-Elbe at Decin on 23rd September 2022 Photo by kind courtesy of Bernd Gross.  See more from this day here

Above : Internal view of the refurbished Labe-Elbe on 23rd September 2022 Photo by kind courtesy of Bernd Gross.  See more from this day here


Above : Labe-Elbe made a first return to her former home city of Prague on 16th March 2023. Photo by kind courtesy of Bernd Gross
Wappen von Minden Bremen 2009 by Juergen Howaldt.jpg
Above : As Wappen von Minden - seen in Bremen in 2009 in a photo by Juergen Howaldt, kindly made available for general publishing under Creative Commons SA 3.0 (Germany) licence.  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en

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