In operation is the most modern device currently floating on the Danube. The "Röthelstein" is more of a floating power station: the diesel-electric drive concept generates electricity for two powerful Azipod drives with a total drive power of 1500 hp. The "Röthelstein" can actually break ice up to one meter thick. However, as there is little need for it in summer, it serves as the most powerful push boat in the VERBUND fleet.
The dredging vessel Walter is equipped with state-of-the-art electronics. As dredger operator Dietmar Naderer explains to the astonished ORF camera team, he dredges using GPS coordinates that are imported via USB stick. Because nothing is left to gut feeling and certainly not to chance when it comes to where the gravel bankers place their gravel.
Captain Dietmar Moissi has to move 400 tons of dead weight plus 500 tons with centimetre precision. What is difficult to drive is also difficult to brake. With the enormous amount of 200 m³ of gravel in the hopper barge, there is no need to rush anyway. It would take 20 trucks to move this amount. Dietmar Moissi and his colleagues manage 6 times more on a good day.
