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Sea Voyages

1986 - 1991

A Ship Called Home


From 1986 until 1991, I did 10 voyages on the same container ship,visiting 40 ports on three continents.

M/V Arnstadt really became a home away
from home for me.



M/V Arnstadt

When I first enlisted on M/V Arnstadt, the ship was in service in the Mediterranean Sea and East Africa. After two years of mainly voyages to Cyprus and Turkey, the ship was sent to South East Asia. during a two year charter for a Singapore based company, we visited 13 ports in nine Asian countries. After that, we finished up with a year in our company's West Africa service.

Sorry, I haven't gotten around scanning all my 2,000 pictures yet. So, for now, I have borrowed a
number of virtual post cards from the internet, but many of them look just like the ones I took.



XVoyage 16

X M/V Arnstadt

XXOct 1986 - Jan 1987

My first voyage on M/V Arnstadt consisted of three round trips to the Mediter-ranean Sea. At each trip, we called Hamburg in West Germany, Antwerp in Belgium, Mersin and Izmir in Turkey and Larnaca in Cyprus. In addition, the first round trip included Istanbul, the second took us to Alexandria and the third to Iraklion on the Greek island Crete.

In Izmir, we took the opportunity to visit the ancient Roman ruins of Ephesos and in Iraklion, we visited the even older Greek temple ruins of Knossos.
Most voyages on M/V Arnstadt started with a bus trip from Rostock across the East-West German border to Hamburg, where the crew exchange took place.

In addition to a number of really interesting ports, these short voyages to the Mediterranean and back were a great training ground for nautical skills. In only three months, we crossed Dover Strait and the Strait of Gibraltar no less than six times and also had an interesting passage through the Dardanelles and the Bosporus to Istanbul. I also got my very first impression of a maximum gale force storm in the English Channel.


Border
East & West Germany




Hamburg
West Germany




Antwerp
Belgium




Mersin
Turkey




Dover Strait


Strait of Gibraltar


Larnaca
Cyprus




Izmir
Turkey




Ephesus
Turkey




Bosporus
Turkey




Istanbul
Turkey




Alexandria
Egypt




Iraklion
Greece




Knossos
Greece




Gale Force 12


XXXXXXXVoyage 17

XXXXXXXXXXM/V Arnstadt

XXXXXXXXXXXXXApr 1987 - Jul 1987

The Summer of 1987 brought us back to East Africa. Leaving from Hamburg, we made the usual stops in Antwerp, Ceuta and Larnaca and then passed the Suez Canal.

In the Red Sea, we first visited Aqaba, and then Al Hudaydah, Yemen and Djibouti. Then, in East Africa, I had the unique opportunity to observe African wild life during a day-trip to Mikumi National Park, 150 miles inland from Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.

On the way back, we stopped in Felixtowe, England and Hamburg. This time the voyage ended in Rostock, making it one of the very few voyages during which we stopped in both East- and West Germany.


Hamburg
West Germany




Antwerp
Belgium




Ceuta
Spanish North Africa




Larnaca
Cyprus




Suez Canal
Egypt




Aqaba
Jordan




Hudaydah
Yemen




Djibouti
Djibouti




Mombasa
Kenya




Dar Es Salaam
Tanzania




Mikumi National Park
Tanzania




Felixtowe
United Kingdom




Kiel Canal
West Germany




Rostock
East Germany




XVoyage 18

X M/V Arnstadt

XXSep - Nov 1987

After spending a month in a ship yard in Rostock, it was back to the Mediterranean - again visiting all the ports we visited at previous voyages.

One port was new this time: in addition to Hamburg and Antwerp, we also stopped in Amsterdam. To get there, we had to pass through the North Sea Canal - a 16 miles long artificial waterway, connecting the North Sea with the almost completely land-locked Zuiderzee.


Rostock
East Germany




Hamburg
West Germany




Antwerp
Belgium




Mersin
Turkey




Larnaca
Cyprus




Izmir
Turkey




Noordzeekanaal
Netherlands




Amsterdam
Netherlands




Alexandria
Egypt




Iraklion
Greece




XVoyage 19

X M/V Arnstadt

XXDec 1987 - Apr 1988

What started as a "normal" Mediterranean round trip in December 1987 turned into the adventure of a lifetime. After one roundtrip from Hamburg and Antwerp to Turkey and Cyprus, we got orders to sail to Singapore in South East Asia.
We loaded containers in Larnaca and Alexandria and then passed the Suez Canal heading towards the Indian Ocean. Stops along the way were made in Khor Fakkan on the Arabian Peninsula, in Penang, Malaysia and Belawan, Indonesia. In February 1988, we arrived at our new home port and for the next two years we sailed under the flag of RCL Singapore.

We completed five round-trips from Singapore to Bangkok and back, before a replacment crew arrived. The last night of the trip we spent at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow, Russia.


Hamburg
West Germany




Antwerp
Belgium




Mersin
Turkey




Larnaca
Cyprus




Izmir
Turkey




Alexandria
Egypt




Suez Canal
Egypt




Khor Fakkan
United Arab Emirates




Penang
Malaysia




Belawan
Indonesia




Singapore
Singapore




Bangkok
Thailand




Hindukush Mountains
seen from the airplane


XXXXXAirborne

XXXXXXXM/V Arnstadt

XXXXX XXXXXX1988 - 1990

While our ship was stationed in south East Asia, crew exchanges took place every three months, resulting in a total of eight flights between Germany and Singapore.

Most of the time we used the direct route from Berlin to Singapore via Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Twice we used a Russian airline, flying from Singapore to Berlin via Bombay and Moscow, and one time we went from Hamburg to Copenhagen and then to Bangkok.

Airplanes



Ilyushin IL-62
Singapore-Bombay-Moscow


Ilyushin IL-18
Moscow-Berlin


Fokker-F27 Friendship
Hamburg-Copenhagen


McDonnell Douglas
DC-10
Copenhagen-Bangkok


Airbus A-300
Berlin-Dubai-
Singapore

Airports



Singapore-Changi
Singapore




Chhatrapati Shivaji
Bombay, India




Moscow-Sheremetyevo
Russia




Berlin-Schönefeld
East Germany




Hamburg-Fuhlsbüttel
West Germany




Copenhagen-Kastrup
Denmark




Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi
Thailand




Dubai
United Arab Emirates




XXVoyage 20

XX M/V Arnstadt

XXXXXJul - Oct 1988

Our first full-time turn in South East Asia started with a bus ride to Hamburg, where we took a small airplane to Copenhagen, where we took a large airplane to Bangkok. It would be our last visit to Bangkok for a year. Our new area of operation would be the Philippines.

We started with one round-trip Singapore-Manila and back, followed by four voyages Singapore - Cebu - Manila - Singapore.
The voyage from Cebu to Manila lead through the Philippine inland waters and we got to see many of the country's 7,000 islands. From Manila, we also took a day trip to Pagsanjan National Park, which is famous for its waterfalls.

The flight home only had one stop in Dubai.


Bangkok
Thailand




Singapore
Singapore




Manila
Philippines




Cebu
Philippines




Pagsanjan National Park
Philippines




XXXXXXVoyage 21

XXXXXX X XM/V Arnstadt

XXXXXXXXXXXXXJan - Apr 1989

After a flight via Dubai and a short trip to Penang, we were deployed to a new operating area. In late January, 1989, we were the first East German ship to ever visit Taiwan.

The first trip to Kao Hsiung was followed by four more round trips from Singapore to Kao Hsiung and Hong Kong and one trip to Bangkok, from where we flew home via Bombay and Moscow.



Singapore
Singapore




Penang
Malaysia




Kao Hsiung
Taiwan




Hong Kong
Hong Kong




Bangkok
Thailand




XXXXXXXXVoyage 22

XXXXXXXXXXXM/V Arnstadt

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXAug - Oct 1989

The next voyage took us into the Bay of Bengal. After a flight to Bangkok via Dubai, we sailed to Singapore for two short trips to Port Klang and Penang in Malaysia. Then, two round trips to Bangladesh and India followed.

The trip from Singapore to Bangladesh and back was like a hot-and-cold shower. Within days, we flipped back and forth between one of the world's most modern cities and one of the world's poorest countries.


XXXXXSunday in SingaporeXXXXXXXWednesday in Bangladesh

The trips to Bangladesh and India included long river passages in the delta formed by the mighty rivers Ganges and Brahmaputra. Mongla in Bangladesh was about 100 miles up river and Haldia, just outside Calcutta, India was about 30 miles upstream.


Bangkok
Thailand




Singapore
Singapore




Port Klang
Malaysia




Penang
Malaysia




Chittagong
Bangladesh




Brahmaputra Delta
Bangladesh




Mongla
Bangladesh




Ganges Delta
India




Haldia
India




XVoyage 23

X M/V Arnstadt

XXXJan - Apr 1990

One last flight to Singapore via Dubai, and then, after two years in South East Asia, we brought the ship back home to Germany.

But first, we did a real good-bye-tour to many of the ports we had visited during our Asia years.
It started with a voyage to Bangkok, followed by two last round trips to Taiwan and Hong Kong and ended with two trips to Penang and Kuantan in Malaysia.

Then, all there was left to do was the long voyage through the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea to Antwerp and Hamburg, and in April 1990, we were back in Rostock.


Singapore
Singapore




Bangkok
Thailand




Kao Hsiung
Taiwan




Hong Kong
Hong Kong




Penang
Malaysia




Kuantan
Malaysia




Suez Canal
Egypt




Antwerp
Belgium




Hamburg
Germany




Rostock
Germany




XVoyage 24

X M/V Arnstadt

XXXJun - Aug 1990

XVoyage 25

X M/V Arnstadt

X Dec 1990 - Mar 1991

My last year on M/V Arnstadt was spent in West Africa. During two voyages, we did three roundtrips each from Hamburg, Rotterdam and Antwerp via Las Palmas on Gran Canaria to Freetown in Sierra Leone, Tema in Ghana, Lome in Togo and Lagos in Nigeria.

During the first voyage, we also visited Banjul in Gambia once and during our last round trip at the second voyage, we stopped in Cotonou, Benin. We also had the change to take a short trip to Ghana's capital Accra and to Togo's oldest town, Togoville.

During the second voyage, we also spent a couple of days in the small Dutch town Terneuzen at the Canal from Terneuzen to Gent.


Hamburg
Germany




Rotterdam
Netherlands




Antwerp
Belgium




Freetown
Sierra Leone




Tema
Ghana




Accra
Ghana




Lagos
Nigeria




Las Palmas
Canary Islands




Banjul
Gambia




Lomé
Togo




Togoville
Togo




Cotonou
Benin




Ghent-Terneuzen-Canal
Belgium / Netherlands




Terneuzen
Netherlands




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