Much like seafaring humans, the watercraft that populate the world’s oceans, lakes and rivers have to one day retire. And, just as for their human counterparts, life on dry land usually requires a certain amount of adaptations, adjustments and changes. From pleasure cruisers to freight carriers and fishing boats, these disused ships prove that shore life can be sweet. [Photo: Alte Utting]
Most visitors to Munich are unlikely to stray far enough from the city centre to come across the city’s slaughterhouse district. Since 2017, those that do have been greeted by a somewhat incongruous sight: on a disused railway bridge high above the street sits a rather large watercraft. The MS Utting was retired after 66 years as an excursion boat on nearby lake Ammersee. Today, she serves as a bar and event venue in this unlikely location in the landlocked Bavarian city.
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Second Berth: 10 Cool Repurposed Ships.
Waitanic
Less disconcerting – but only slightly so – is the sight of a ship on dry land. In Woodlyn Park Motel, you can sleep in a train, plane, in replica Hobbit houses, or inside the Waitanic. Built as an anti-submarine patrol ship during WWII, she is now living out her twilight days amidst the rolling hills of New Zealand’s North Island. Landlubbers board their rooms via a wooden walkway and get to feel like mariners for the duration of their stay, miles away from the nearest ocean.
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Second Berth: 10 Cool Repurposed Ships.
Benson Ford
The Benson Ford Shiphouse, by contrast, didn’t stray too far at all from the water. Part of the Ford Motor Company’s lake transport system across the Great Lakes surrounding former motor city Detroit, the cargo vessel sits on dry land, but the view from the deck suggests it is still sailing the seven seas – or rather Lake Erie. The vessel found a permanent home on South Bass Island on the Ohio lake, where her position, jutting out over the edge of a small cliff, creates a seafaring illusion. You can book a tour to visit the private holiday home and view its storied interiors, including state rooms designed for Henry Ford personally.
Amsterdam’s houseboats are a novel sight for visitors. An even more surprising discovery: the former houseboats that make up the de Ceuvel project. The creative business park, located on the site of a former shipyard, is dedicated to sustainability and urban regeneration. Several no-longer-canal-worthy houseboats, now demoted to mere houses, fit perfectly into this concept and add a quirky touch. Today, they serve as artist studios, design agency offices and coworking spaces, surrounded by soil-cleaning plants that will restore the quality of the polluted ground. [Photo: Martijn van Wijk]
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Second Berth: 10 Cool Repurposed Ships.
Marine Doc
Of course, houseboats aren’t the only watercraft the Netherlands have an ample supply of: the country’s rivers and canals are frequented by freight barges. Once their transporting days are over, they may soon find a new permanent dock in the Marine-doc Estate. Design Studio Komma are currently seeking the right location for a development that would consist entirely out of light-flooded, open-plan family homes in converted freight boats.
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Second Berth: 10 Cool Repurposed Ships.
hotels
Many retired cruise ships share a cruel fate – sent to shipwrecking yards, they are broken down into their parts and sold for scrap. A select few, however, receive a far more glamorous treatment and live out their twilight years as floating hotels. You can spend a night aboard the Queen Elizabeth 2 in Dubai (pictured); dine, sleep or experience events on the Queen Mary in Southern California; or check into the SS Rotterdam in the Dutch harbour city that gave the ship its name.
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Second Berth: 10 Cool Repurposed Ships.
restaurants
Another popular retirement plan for seafaring vessels – become a restaurant. There are too many on-board eateries all over the world to mention them all, but they range from a fine dining sailboat in Philadelphia and a brunch clipper in Berlin, to restaurants built around tugboats in Maine or Namibia. Some are still floating on water, albeit permanently moored. Others have solid ground foundations now, but they all make the most of their maritime charm. [Photo Moshulu by J. Fusco for VISIT PHILADELPHIA®]
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Second Berth: 10 Cool Repurposed Ships.
Black Gold
The Black Gold project is currently no more than a flight of fancy – the type our world could use more of. The proposal for a sustainable conversion of disused oil tankers by a group of Dutch designers makes the best of the seafaring vessels’ vastness. In the design renderings, a beached tanker is turned into an entire neighbourhood, containing a shopping centre, offices and recreational spaces.
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Travel
Second Berth: 10 Cool Repurposed Ships.
Boatanic
The Boatanic is equally forward-looking – and a lot easier to implement – but also remains an unrealised concept. During a brief trial period in the Dutch city of Utrecht, a former glass-roofed sightseeing boat was turned into a floating greenhouse. It’s an ingenious idea that both finds a sensible second use for the disused tourist vessels and taps into the urban gardening trend, reducing food miles and freeing up valuable farming land. Due to the cramped size, the crops grown on board would be limited to herbs and microgreens, but a fleet of greenhouse boats would be a great way to supplement a city’s fresh food supply.
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