Regensburg (aka the Schengen Agreement ship)

Passenger vessel Regensburg at the slipway of Lux-Werft in Niederkassel, Germany.

 

This rather insconspicuous vessel, originally named Princesse Marie-Astrid, holds the distinction of being the vessel on which the Schengen agreement was signed. On 14 June 1985, representatives of the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France and the Federal Repulic of Germany met abord the Princesse Marie-Astrid and signed the treaty, which largely ended border checks between these countries and was later incorporated into EU law. The signature took place on the river Moselle near the town of Schengen, where the territories of France, Luxembourg and Germany meet. This practice of signing treaties in the neutrality of a vessel in the middle of a river has been around for centuries, e.g. the 921 Treaty of Bonn between Charles III of France and Henry I of Germany.

 

Regensburg (1985)

 

Builder: Lux-Werft, Niederkassel-Mondorf (#95)

Propulsion: 2x 177kW MAN diesel

Length: 40.5 m

Beam: 7.2 m

Draft: 0.9 m

 

Carreer:

 

1985: delivered to Service de navigation de l'entente de la Moselle luxembourgeoise, Luxembourg as Princesse Marie-Astrid

1992: sold to Rössler-Linie, Rüdesheim, Germany and renamed Sankt Nikolaus

2003: sold to Regensburger Personenschifffahrt Klinger, Regensburg and renamed Regensburg

2021: sold to Luxembourg, returned to Lux-Werft for renovation and conversion to museum ship

 

Done