www.ships-and-funnels.de

Last updated: January 2nd 2024

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General information

Welcome on the website www.ships-and-funnels.de. On this site you will find all kinds of ships of different sizes. But, based on my main interest for smaller ships, the focus of this website is set on this kind of vessels, mainly visible in the many general cargo ships <5000 ts offered herein. Otherwise be sure that I'll also photograph very large ships if the opportunity arises. I hope you enjoy this website and the included photos and data.

The photos shown on this site were taken mainly at the river Elbe between Hamburg harbour and Lühe, at the Kiel-Canal but also during special visits to different locations in northern Germany (i.e. Cuxhaven, Kiel, Lübeck/Travemünde, etc.) as well as in foreign European countries (i.e. Istanbul, Turkey and at the Western Scheldt, the Netherlands). The ships are divided into 25 categories. Most of the material is included in the categories "general cargo ships", "container ships", "feeder container ships" and "product tankers". Additionally you will find 5 special categories, including ship impressions, impressions based on special events, funnel signs, my photo locations and scrapped vessels (incl. total losses and decommissionings) respectively.

Most technical data shown on this site was taken from Lloyd's Register of Ships and free accessible ship registries or databases. You will find more detailed information of these registries inside the area >Links<. The technical data of the Hamburg harbour ferries was kindly put at my disposal by the HADAG. Each home port shown on this site is only taken from the stern of the photographed ship, not from a register, and describes the current situation when the photo was taken.

Then an additional special note. I am often approached at the Kiel Canal, why a ship just stops and does not continue and what the signals have to mean. For this reason, I offer a small help, which can be found in the category >My Photo Locations< in the first place.

This site has been optimized for a screen resolution of 1280x1024 pixel.


Information about >News<

This link refers to a site including interesting news, like important website related changes, or information of general character, like visits in foreign countries, special events or current annoucements (arrivals of special ships, etc.).

Information about >Compilations of special large shipyard type series<

This link refers to compilations of photographed ships of certain series, which aren't be taken into account in the ship data set field "Additional information" due to their large number. The list is sorted by shipbuilders and types / series.

Information about >IMO List<

In this section I offer a tabular listing in descending order of all IMO's existing in this database, including those, which aren't valid any longer. In this case you'll find a relating note in the ships's data set field "Additional Information". The link of each IMO refers to the related ship dataset. IMO's which are included in the listing more than once refer to different ship datasets of the same ship respectively (i.e. change of ship name / operator / manager etc.) and are sorted in descending order of the timeliness.
By using the hot key [STRG][F] you are able to search for an interesting IMO directly (Microsoft® Internet Explorer / Mozilla Firefox). If the search is successful the cursor will jump to the hit and the found IMO will appear highlighted in yellow.
In case of a multiple representation of one and the same IMO, the sorting is also done here in descending order according to the photo date of the 1st photo, that means the youngest ship record is the topmost entry, etc ..

Information about >ENI List<

In this section I offer a tabular listing in ascending order of all ENI's existing in this database, including those, which aren't valid any longer. In this case you'll find a relating note in the ships's data set field "Additional Information". The link of each ENI No. refers to the related ship dataset.
By using the hot key [STRG][F] you are able to search for an interesting ENI No. directly (Microsoft® Internet Explorer / Mozilla Firefox). If the search is successful the cursor will jump to the hit and the found ENI No. will appear highlighted in yellow.
In case of a multiple representation of one and the same ENI no., the sorting is done here in descending order according to the photo date of the 1st photo, that means the youngest ship record is the topmost entry, etc ..

Information about >Update List<

In the area >Updates< you will find a table representing all newly-photographed ships over a period of several months. This update list includes all new dataset entries and such edited versions of which photo 1 (left) was renewed. All other editions, like photo 2, photo 3 or technical data of a ship will result in a new update date, which appears in the related category listing. By using the hot key [STRG][F] (Microsoft® Internet Explorer / Mozilla Firefox) you are able to search in these lists for an interesting date very easily and to take a look at an edited or corrected dataset. All search hits will appear highlighted in yellow.
In addition to the ship names the update listing includes the corresponding ship category and flag and is first given in chronological order and second for each photo date in alphabetic order based on the ship names. By mouse click on a yellow marked ship name you will enter the related ship data set directly. To avoid word-wraps preferably, if lower screen resolutions are used, in both columns "Category" and "Flag" a maximum text length is fixed, therefore some longer texts in these columns are cut at the end.

Information about >Links to other websites<

In the area >Links to other websites< you will find references to the aforementioned free accessible ship registries or databases and subsequently exemplary links to interesting websites of other photographers, which are either more extensive or focused on special locations and on special types of ships respectively.
Additional you will find some links to websites with focus on ship information (traffic, dates of cruise liners etc.) or with focus on possible demolitions as well as links to webcams from the areas Elbe and Kiel-Canal.

In that case I would like to point out that I basically won't offer any links to general commercial websites. I ask you to consider this for related inquiries.


Information about the special category >Demolitions<

This category includes not only demolitions but also total losses after general averages as well as decommissionings. The demolition data as well as the circumstances which indicate a total loss of a vessel or the future usage of an decommissioned vessel are given in the field >Additional Information<.

With respect to this point, following a note about my approach in this case. Basically, since 2015 "Shipspotting.com" offers the most current data. I regularly check this list at the beginning of each month. Relevant information for me will be recorded and used in my database as early as I receive any confirmation elsewhere, i.e in "equasis.org" or "vesseltracker.com". In the same manner I proceed with the quarterly released list of "Robin de Bois".

Information about the special category >Funnel Signs<

The link of the category >Funnel Signs< refers to a table including thumbnails in alphabetic order, based on short names of the related shipping companies.
From time to time there are funnel signs which aren't related to a shipping company (e.g. city coat of arms, symbols or figures). In such cases you will find additional explanations, given in brackets.
Note: In principle, I only use funnel signs. In exceptional cases, where there is no sufficiently large funnel, at which a mark would find space, I sometimes use a mark shown on the bridge wing or on the superstructure.
The table includes a navigation bar showing the page indications in alphabetic order using either the first or the first two letters of the shipping companies short names. Furthermore "tooltips" are installed, therefore If you point the cursor on a page indication, after 1 or 2 seconds the short name of the first shipping company of this page will appear. Also inside the navigation bar of this table the indication of the current shown page is pointed out in yellow.
- By mouse click on a page indication you will enter the related page of the table.
- By mouse click on a thumbnail you will get access to the complete photo with the complete name of the shipping company and also the name of the ship, from which the photo was taken.
- By mouse click on this ship name you will enter the related ship dataset.

- Funnel signs with one or more letters which aren't directly related to the belonging shipping company name are included more than once: i.e. one according to the funnel sign and one or two according to the short name of the shipping company.
I.e.: you will find the funnel sign "HD" under "H" but also under "B" due to the shipping company "BBC" (Burger Bereederungs Contor).

Information about the special categories >Impressions< and >Impressions - Specials<

The category >Impressions< not only includes impressions but also photos of dragging units, for which no own category exists. The related link refers to a table including thumbnails in chronoligical order.
This table includes a navigation bar showing the page numbers in numeric order. For a better orientation between the different pages sonamed "tooltips" are installed, therefore If you point the cursor on a page number, after 1 or 2 seconds the date of the first photo of the related page will appear. Furthermore inside the navigation bar the page number of the current shown page is pointed out in yellow.
- By mouse click on a page number you will enter the related page of the table.
- By mouse click on a thumbnail you will get access to the complete photo with information about the photographed ships.
- By mouse click on a ship name you will enter the related ship dataset.

Additional impressions from special events will be accessible via the special category >Impressions - Specials<, mainly if these events present a larger quantity of photos.

Information about the special category >My Photo Locations<

This category includes photos of my photo locations. Additionally I offer detailed information about each location. The link of this category refers to a table including thumbnails in alphabetic order, based on the related short location names.
This table includes a navigation bar showing the page indications in alphabetic order using the first two letters of the short location names. Furthermore "tooltips" are installed, therefore if you point the cursor on a page indication, after 1 or 2 seconds the short name of the first location of this page will appear. Also inside the navigation bar of this table the indication of the current shown page is pointed out in yellow.
- By mouse click on a page indication you will enter the related page of the table.
- By mouse click on a thumbnail you will get access to the complete photo with the exact name of the location and also the detailed information.

This category is under construction, that means, either not all photo locations are included so far, or currently there aren't photos available especially shot for this category, therefore I decided to use older suitable photos from other categories in the meantime.


Information about >ship categories<

The link of each ship category refers to a table including all related ships in alphabetic order. Each category table includes a navigation bar showing the letters of the alphabet. By mouse click on a letter the cursor will jump to the first ship which name begins with this letter. By mouse click on the yellow marked ship name you will enter the related ship dataset. By mouse click on a >single letter< inside the left column the screen will show the top of the site.
In case of a multiple representation of one and the same ship (owner change, etc.), the sorting is done here in ascending order according to the photo date of the 1st photo, that means the oldest ship record is the first entry, etc ..
Due to the increased number of vessels in some categories, perhaps it'll be easier to use the hot key [STRG][F] i.e to search for an interesting name directly (Microsoft® Internet Explorer / Mozilla Firefox). If the search is successful the cursor will jump to the hit and the found name will appear highlighted in yellow.

The category >Coasters< includes all dry ocean going cargo ships and tankers up to 1,599 GT (according to "Wikipedia").
The category >Container Ships< includes all vessels which are classified as container ships with a capacity of >1,400 TEU, but also specialized ships, like some combined container and Ro/Ro-ships and also some cargo ships, which aren't exclusively classified as container ships.
The category >Feeder Container Ships< includes all container ships that are known to have been or are currently in feeder services, regardless of the container capacity, but also some general cargo ships with different information about the classification. In that case you'll find a related entry as additional information.
You will find 2 different categories for >General cargo ships<:
- The category >General cargo ships, below 5,000 ts DWT< includes all dry cargo ships >=1,600 GT and up to 5,000 ts DWT,
- The category >General cargo ships, above 5,000 ts DWT< includes all dry cargo ships >=5,001 ts DWT.
The category >Heavy Cargo Ships< includes all cargo ships with a crane lifting capacity >= 100 ts (while it may be a combination of two cranes with a lifting capacity of 50 ts each); as well as specialized vessels which are constructed to carry extremely heavy and large cargo.
The category >Inland Navigation Vessels< also includes sonamed tandem vessels (motor ship + barge). In such cases both vessels are included in one dataset. Both names are given devided by " + ", whereas the first name always stands for the motor ship. The technical data of the barge will be found as additional information.

The category >Navy Vessels< includes common abbreviations for the armament type, given in "Additional Information:". Following you will find the related explanations:
- AEW (airborne early warning)
- ASaC (airborne surveillance and control)
- ASM (antiship missile system)
- ASROC [VLA] (vertical launge anti submarine rocket)
- ASW (anti submarine warfare)
- CIWS (close-in weapon system) completely automatic weapon system for short-range defense of ships against highly maneuverable missiles, aircraft and fast maneuvering surface vessels
- MLG (light marine gun) the abbreviation is based on the German name "Marine-Leicht-Geschütz", a remote-controlled revolver based single barrel rapid gun against slightly protected objects, build by "Rheinmetall"
- NSM (Naval strike missile)
- PAAMS (principal anti-air missile system)
- RAM (rolling airframe missile) CIWS, supersonic, lightweight, quick reaction, fire-and-forget missile designed to engage anti-ship cruise missiles and asymmetric air and surface threats
- RBS-15 (robot system 15) heavy anti ship missile
- RGM (remote-guided missile)
- RIM (radar intercept missile)
- SAM (surface-to-air missile system)
- SSM (surface-to-surface missile system)
- VLS (vertical launching system)


The category >Ro/Ro Vessels< includes all Ro/Ro vessels except pure car carriers.
You will find 3 different categories of >Tankers<:
- the category >Tankers, Crude Oil<: includes tankers specialized for the transport of crude oil,
- the category >Tankers, Liquid Gas<: includes all related vessels for liquified natural gas (LNG) and liquified petroleum gas (LPG) >=1,600 GT,
- and the category >Tankers, Product<: includes all related vessels (chemical and product tankers) >=1,600 GT.

Information about ship datasets

By mouse click on a thumbnail you will get access to the complete photo with additional data belonging to the shown photo.
The given data of each dataset, particularly concerning ship name, owner, manager and operator is directly connected with the related photos of this dataset, i.e. further changes will be ignored and therefore won't appear in this dataset, but if I shoot new and more current photos a new dataset will be created also including the current ship data (for instance, please take a look at the different datasets of the feeder >Aura<).


Copyright 2011 - 2024 © Dieter Kannengießer

Last updated: January 2nd 2024

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