Ship seeks buyer

Is there a “happy ending” for the old “Lady Magdalena”?

The ship is rotting away right next to the Drau bridge.

(Bild: Mößlacher Hannes)

The old excursion boat "Magdalena" is rotting away right next to the Drau bridge over the reservoir at St. Kanzian. Once brought here as an attraction, she is in the bankruptcy estate of her hapless operators. Now it is finally a question of whether a buyer can be found or the end is imminent.

The fate of this classic excursion boat has been changeable: its keel was laid at the Korneuburg shipyard. A shipyard on the Danube that had 650 employees at the time, but has long since become industrial history. The traditional shipbuilding company was initially merged with the Linz shipyard and then gradually dismantled before the last ship was launched there in the 1990s.

The sister ship "Velden" during the ship procession with the statue of the Virgin Mary on "Assumption Day" on Lake Wörth.

(Bild: Eggenberger Gert/GERT EGGENBERGER)

Launched in 1966 on Lake Wörthersee together with the sister ship as "Klagenfurt" and "Wiesbaden", the boats were later renamed "Maria Wörth" and "Velden". In 2006, the old "Maria Wörth" was sold to the Drau reservoir near St. Kanzian; as a floating attraction called "MS Magdalena", but without commercial success. The "relocation" alone was a lot of advertising, as it attracted a lot of attention. After all, it is not every day that a ship of this size rolls along roads across Carinthia.

And although the "Magdalena" looks rather dainty in the water, its dimensions are impressive: 24.4 meters long, 4.6 meters wide and licensed for 120 people. It was used for excursions on the extensive reservoir; from its location at the Tainach bridge to the Völkermarkt area, where renaturalized natural areas such as near Neudenstein not only amaze ornithologists.

However, the ship has been rotting away right next to the Tainach bridge for years now; the pandemic has probably given the project a decisive final push. It looks like a memorial; covered in algae, the interior looks as deserted as it did after the last trip; the coffee cups stacked up

Specially equipped for reservoir navigation, the "Magdalena" is basically "in good shape"

(Bild: Mößlacher Hannes)

As if the last guest had disembarked only yesterday; stacked coffee crockery.

(Bild: Mößlacher Hannes)

The "Magdalena", formerly the "Maria Wörth", initially even called the "Klagenfurt".

(Bild: Mößlacher Hannes)

However, the ship will need more than just a clean before it can be used again.

(Bild: Mößlacher Hannes)

Nevertheless, the old lady still has her charm, even with her patina.

(Bild: Mößlacher Hannes)

The liquidator has been looking for a buyer for months to give the ship a future after all. Scrapping would be the last solution, even if some people are already joking that the "Magdalena" could be sunk somewhere in the reservoir as an artificial reef and at least turned into an attraction for divers.