Ship

MS Charon – that is the ship’s actual name when it is not sailing in the name of science. The ship has been sailing Germany’s rivers since the late 1960s and has undergone several name and ownership changes over the years.

In 1969, the cargo ship was originally built as the MS VERA at the Elfring shipyard in Haren (Ems). There, it was operated for a short time by the shipyard’s own Elka shipping company and then sold to the Netherlands, where it sailed as the Van Uden 24.

In 1987, Karin and Albrecht Scheubner bought the ship and renamed it MS Jenny. The Scheubner family converted the MS Jenny into an exhibition and event vessel.

From 2002, the MS Jenny toured Germany as a science ship, and since 2006 has officially operated under the name MS Wissenschaft.

In 2025, Michael Heyen and his father Eilert Heyen purchased the converted cargo ship. The vessel is now owned by Heyen MS Charon OHG and has its new home port in Papenburg. It was also renamed and is now known as MS Charon. The name Charon derives from Greek mythology: in that tradition, Charon is the grim ferryman who transports the dead across the River Styx in a boat in exchange for a coin.

The ship has a length of 102 metres and a loading area of around 600 square metres. As a cargo ship, the MS Charon has a loading capacity of 1,919 tons. This is roughly equivalent to the loading capacity of about 76 trucks.

The MS Charon is driven by a Mitsubishi engine with an integrated SCR catalytic converter, which converts nitrogen monoxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) up to over 90 % to nitrogen (N2) and water (H2O).

MS Wissenschaft has been using GtL fuel for its diesel engines and gensets since 2016 - making it the first ship in Germany to do so. GtL fuel has physical properties that are broadly similar to those of conventional diesel fuel. However, the environmental compatibility of GtL fuels is much better: they are sulphur-free and contain neither organic nitrogen nor aromatic hydrocarbon compounds. The latter also leads to much lower soot emissions. They are also virtually odourless. At the same time, the fuel's efficiency values are very good. The fuel is produced from natural gas, hence the abbreviation GtL: Gas to Liquid.

The MS Charon can reach around 50 cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants in Germany - and often dock in the immediate vicinity of the city centres. As a mobile event location, the ship can thus bring an exhibition from place to place to the people without the need for assembly and disassembly or adaptation to the conditions of the respective exhibition location.

All fans of vessels will find here the technical data of the MS Wissenschaft:

• Year of construction: 1969 as MS "VERA" shipyard Elfring Haren/Ems, 2026 as MS "Charon"
• Width: 9,50 m
• Length: 102 m
• Depth: during the exhibition 1.20; maximum 2.86 m
• Total tonnage: 1,919 tonnes (corresponds to a loading capacity of 76 trucks)
• Container loading capacity: 66 TEU
• Satellite navigation: 720° radar pilot
• Rear radar: Swiss JFS 364 C
• Front radar: Alphatron JMR 611 with Tresco Radar-Overlay-System
• Bow thruster: Verhaar Omega-Jet 350 PS
• Engine: Mitsubishi type S12A2-Z3MPTAW-3, 701 kW/953 PS; with SCR catalytic converter [nitrogen monoxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) are converted to nitrogen (N2) and water (H2O) up to more than 90%].
• Engine power: 700 kW = 950 PS