The HADAG (full name HADAG Seetouristik und Fährdienst AG, literally "''HADAG Sea-tourism and Ferry service''") is a local public transport company in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It owns and operates passengers ferries across the

Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...

River, overseen by and integrated into the network of

Hamburger Verkehrsverbund The Hamburger Verkehrsverbund (HVV) () is a transport association coordinating public transport in and around Hamburg, Germany. Its main objectives are to provide a unified fare system, requiring only a single ticket for journeys with transfers ...

(HVV). In 2013, 10.6 million passenger journeys were made on the HADAG network. In the 1950s the company operated ferries from Hamburg to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and in the 1980s, the cruise ship MS Astor.

History

The ''Hafen-Dampfschifffahrt AG'' (HADAG) was founded on 8 August 1888, and the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg granted the concession to operate ferries in the

Port of Hamburg The Port of Hamburg (, ) is a seaport on the river Elbe in Hamburg, Germany, from its mouth on the North Sea. Known as Germany's "Gateway to the World" (), it is the country's largest seaport by volume. In terms of TEU throughput, Hambur ...

. In 1897, the HADAG owned 47 ferries and took over the smaller ''Jollenführer Dampfer GmbH''. With opening of the Elbe tunnel in 1911, the HADAG line Landungsbrücken —

Steinwerder Steinwerder (German "stein" stone, "werder" (archaic) island or peninsula, translation "stone peninsula") is a quarter of Hamburg, Germany in the borough Hamburg-Mitte on the southern bank of the river Elbe. It is a primarily maritime industrial ...

lost 259,000 passengers p.a.. In 1918, with the end of the concession, the HADAG wanted to rise the fare price. The city of Hamburg refused and the company was in danger of liquidation. On 23 October 1918, the city of Hamburg acquired the HADAG. Later it became a subsidiary for the

Hamburger Hochbahn Hamburger Hochbahn AG (HHA), founded in 1911, operates the Hamburg U-Bahn, underground system and large parts of the bus system in Hamburg, Germany. Its name comes from the initial name given to the Hamburg metro system, ''Hochbahn'' (German: ''el ...

(HHA). In 1928 the HHA and HADAG established a shared fare for the trains, trams, and buses of the HHA and the ferries of the HADAG. In the 1950s, the HADAG operated a ferry to England and to the islands

Heligoland Heligoland (; , ; Heligolandic Frisian: , , Mooring Frisian: , ) is a small archipelago in the North Sea. The islands were historically possessions of Denmark, then became possessions of the United Kingdom from 1807 to 1890. Since 1890, the ...

and

Sylt Sylt (; ; Söl'ring North Frisian: ) is an island in northern Germany, part of Nordfriesland district, Schleswig-Holstein, with a distinctively shaped shoreline. It belongs to the North Frisian Islands and is the largest island in North Fris ...

. In 1966, the last steam ferries were taken out of service. In 1982, HADAG closed the ferry line from Landungsbrücken to the

island, and started a line from

Cuxhaven Cuxhaven (; ) is a town and seat of the Cuxhaven district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town includes the northernmost point of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the shore of the North Sea at the mouth of the Elbe River. Cuxhaven has a footprint o ...

, with a combined fare with

Deutsche Bundesbahn Deutsche Bundesbahn (, ) or DB () was formed as the state railway of the newly established West Germany (FRG) on 7 September 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG). The DB remained the state railway of West Germany u ...

, in 1983. Until 1983, the HADAG owned the cruise ship MS Astor.

Operations

The HADAG runs

public transport Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whic ...

ferries and pleasure boats on the rivers

and

Alster The Alster () is a right tributary of the Elbe river in Northern Germany. It has its source near Henstedt-Ulzburg, Schleswig-Holstein, flows somewhat southwards through much of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and joins the Elbe in central ...

. The public transport is supervised by the

Scheduled harbour ferries

Non-scheduled harbour cruises

Accidents and Incidents

* On the 19 April 2012, a group of 8

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or the PKK, isDespite the PKK's 12th Congress announcing plans for total organisational dissolution, the PKK has not yet been dissolved de facto or de jure. a Kurds, Kurdish militant political organization and armed ...

supporters briefly hijacked the ferry Elbmeile on the Elbe river with 60 passengers onboard before being arrested by police. There were no injuries. * On the 9 February 2019, the container ship

Ever Given ''Ever Given'' () is one of the List of largest container ships, largest container ships in the world. The ship is owned by Shoei Kisen Kaisha (a ship-owning and leasing subsidiary of the large Japanese shipbuilding company Imabari Shipbuilding) ...

brushed against the ferry Finkenwerder which was moored at the pier in Blankenese. The much smaller ferry, at the time without passengers onboard, was seriously damaged. * On the 17 February 2022, during a storm, a large wave burst one of the passenger deck windows onboard the ferry Tollerort. Three people were injured. * On the early morning of 20 January 2025, the ferry Övelgönne collided with a barge and tugboat in fog. The accident tore open a side of the passenger deck. 12 people were injured, one of them seriously.

References

External links

Pictures of the ferries Hadag

Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:HADAG Seetouristik und Fahrdienst Companies based in Hamburg Ferry companies of Germany Ferry transport in Hamburg Transport companies established in 1888 1888 establishments in Germany