14 November - 20 November 2013
COASTAL INFORMANTÉ |13
Old warship to become tourist attraction
sided with the vessel at Lüderitz.
Möller explained the vessel can comfortably accommodate 75 and more guests on its
deck, and has a saloon, six cabins and other
amenities, with an enormous tourism and
hospitality potential. For now, Lilly would
remain at Lüderitz, where Möller hopes to
restore her to her former glory before making final decisions whether the ship would
relocate to Walvis Bay, or stay to entertain
visitors and locals in this southern fishing
town.
At 42m long, Lilly weighs an enormous
135 tonnes. She boasts a hotel licence, a
liquor licence, as well as a museum licence,
so the sky is the limit for Möller’s entrepreneurial imagination of transforming the vessel into a tourism jewel.
SKIPPER HANS: Entrepreneur Hans Möller.
Photo contributed
OLD WARHORSE: The MV Lilly. Photo contributed
Floris Steenkamp
‘CAPTAIN HANS’, a well-known coastal tourism entrepreneur Hans Möller is
known, is at it again.
Möller, the owner of Sunsail Catamarans
in Walvis Bay and Air Hans Safaris, confirmed this week he acquired a vintage warship from a vessel owner at Lüderitz, and intends to transform it into another waterborne
tourism attraction.
The vessel, MV Lilly, was built in Nazioccupied Norway and entered service as a
so-called “Kriegsfischkutter” in November
1940. Some 1 050 Kriegsfischkutters were
built by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi-regime between 1940 and 1942 at various shipyards
across Europe. Only 60 are left worldwide,
of which only 20 are afloat. The Lily is the
only vessel left with the original Modag five
cylinder two-stroke diesel engine.
The vessels were mainly used as troop carriers, disguised as fishing vessels, but were
also used as minesweepers. Hitler believed
his fleet of Kriegsfischkutters would return
as a fishing fleet after Germany’s defeat of
the Allied Forces.
After Germany’s surrender, the fleet of
Kriegfischkutters were tied up, scuttled or
decayed in fishing harbours. Many of the
vessels were sold to private individuals and
former soldiers. Today, less than a tenth of
the vessels remain, and Möller was fortunate
to have bought it from an old friend who re-
STRAND HOTEL GROUND BREAKING: All eyes are on the Swakopmund Mole today where the Ohlthaver
& List Group of Companies (O&L) has a ground-breaking ceremony for its long-anticipated new Strand
Hotel. O&L develops the hotel through its subsidiary O&L Leisure which will ensure that the iconic, cultural and historical aspect of the Mole site is not lost for future generations. The Chairman of the Board
of Directors of O&L, Sven Thieme, will deliver a keynote address at the ground-breaking this morning.
Completion of the new Strand Hotel is expected in mid-2015. Read more on this topic later today on
Informanté’s Facebook page.