PHOTOS: Forty years since a similar event: boats from Balaton are on the Danube again

The Sió canal has become navigable, and thanks to this, the new vessels of Balaton Shipping Ltd. have started to sail on the Danube.

A convoy started from Komárom and is scheduled to depart from Budapest to Sió.

Bahart’s two new passenger ships and two ferries, built in cooperation with the Hungarian Tourism Agency (MTÜ), were completed in 2021 at the Komárom shipyard.

The new vessels have already been launched and tested in the shipyard and are ready for transport, awaiting the water level of Lake Balaton and the weather conditions.

The boats will sail 272 kilometres to the mouth of the Sió, then another 121 kilometres along the Sió Canal to Lake Balaton. The ships have had to be dismantled for transport, so several months of dismantling work will be needed before they arrive.

Gábor Veigl, Bahart’s CEO, says, “there hasn’t been such a revival in Balaton shipping for 40 years.”

The arrival of the new ferries and catamarans will have a positive impact on tourism in the region, as well as on local transport, napi.hu reports.