PHOTOS, VIDEO: Futuristic boats take possession of Lake Balaton

On Friday, Csaba Dömötör, Parliamentary Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Cabinet Office, visited the first voyage of the new boats of the state-owned Balaton Shipping Company (Bahart). Two new ferries and two new catamarans are now in service on Lake Balaton.

The EUR 5 billion-investment was made possible by the state’s capital increase of more than EUR 6 billion in Bahart in 2019, 444.hu reports.

The replacement of the vessels was long overdue

Another important milestone in the development of Lake Balaton: 2 new ferries and 2 new catamarans will be put into service. This will bring a whole new quality of transport to Lake Balaton. With this development, we are paying off a long overdue debt, because the ferries and catamarans that have been in service up to now have been in service for 40 years, wrote Csaba Dömötör on his Facebook page.

New ships on Lake Balaton
MTI/Szigetváry Zsolt

MTI/Szigetváry Zsolt

Interior of the new Balaton boats

New Balaton boat fb/dömötör csaba

In 2019, the government decided to inject more than EUR 6 billion into Bahart’s capital, which made the investment possible. The new boats were built in Komárom and arrived at Lake Balaton this summer as the result of a very complex logistical operation.

The development will serve multiple purposes

They will serve several important purposes. First and foremost the boats will improve the transportation options for people living around Lake Balaton. Furthermore, tourists will have a better experience and the crossing between the shores of the lake will be faster. Also, the vessels will be able to transport more bicycles. Overall, this new development could reduce car traffic around Lake Balaton. The ferries are expected to be operational by the end of this year, and the catamarans in the spring.

Interior of the new Balaton boats

Lake Balaton is our national treasure and pride. We are committed to ensuring that the developments around Lake Balaton serve this purpose,

the parliamentary state secretary added.

Bahart’s two new passenger boats and two ferries, built in cooperation with the Hungarian Tourism Agency, were completed in 2021 at the Komárom shipyard as hirado.hu reported earlier.

The new vessels were launched and tested at the shipyard, ready for transport pending the water level of Lake Balaton and weather conditions. Finally, in June, the boats set sail from the Komárom shipyard on the Danube. They covered 272 kilometres to the mouth of the Sió River and then another 121 kilometres on the Sió Canal to reach Lake Balaton. As the boats had to be partially dismantled for transport, several months of assembly work will be necessary before they can be put into service.

Read also:

• PHOTOS: New Balaton boats under construction and when they will be launched
• VIDEO: This is how a fleet of boats is heading towards Lake Balaton