The Moby Dick is a passenger ship operated by Bonner Fähr- und Fahrgastschifffahrt GmbH & Co. KG (the company also operated the Rhine ferry Rheinnixe until 2022 and the MS RheinTreue since the beginning of 2025). The striking ship, shaped like a whale, usually travels on the Rhine between Bonn and Linz am Rhein. It was built in 1976 at the Oberkassel shipyard. Its inspiration and name came from a beluga whale that swam up the Rhine to Bonn in 1966 and was named after Herman Melville‘s novel Moby Dick.
The Moby Dick measures 45 m in length, with a beam of 6.54 m at the waterline and 11.17 m overall. Its height above the keel is 9.60 m, with an average draft of 1.10 m and an empty weight of approximately 120 tons. Propulsion consists of three MAN 6-cylinder diesel engines, each producing 147 kW. The steering system comprises a hydraulically operated rudder behind the fixed stern propeller and two Schottel rudder propellers mounted laterally, approximately amidships. A covered main deck and an open deck together offer space for a maximum of 496 passengers.
The main deck features large windows at the bow, separated by white struts, representing the teeth or baleen plates of a whale. The fairings taper to a point at the front to form the mouth and are finished with a fin at the stern. The ship is painted in light blue (sides of the main deck) and dark blue (fairings), with a design resembling an eye approximately halfway along its length. Until the late 1980s, the ship sported a color scheme with a high proportion of orange.
On its main route to Linz am Rhein, the ship makes stops in Königswinter and Remagen. The Moby Dick also occasionally sails to Cologne or Koblenz. Furthermore, the ship, which was renovated in 2020, is available for charter and can be hired for corporate events, birthdays, or other celebrations for groups of 50 or more.
The city of Bonn offers the possibility of civil wedding ceremonies on board the Moby Dick while it is docked on the Bonn side of the Rhine. After the ceremony, the ship can depart.
