An important building block for maritime security in the Baltic Sea: The new multi-purpose and oil spill response vessel will strengthen maritime security in the Baltic Sea in future.

The "Lütt Matten", a new multi-purpose and oil spill response vessel, is about to enter service. The sea trials of the ship, which was built at the Damen shipyard in the Netherlands, were successful. The Central Command for Maritime Emergencies managed the entire new construction project and is integrating the ship into the federal-state agreement for combating marine pollution. Its main area of operation will be the Sassnitz area. The ship can be used flexibly for oil spill response, monitoring, transport and other tasks, which makes it particularly economically attractive. The operating concept is new: the ship was procured by the coastal states, but is operated by the shipping companies Otto Wulf and Pegasus Shipping. They can use it commercially on a day-to-day basis, but have to make it available within two hours in an emergency. The new vessel was built in around a year on the basis of an existing hull. The total cost is around 8.2 million euros. The test runs have confirmed its performance; only minor remaining work is still outstanding.

Why this name? We searched once and found what we were looking for: Lütt Matten is the main character in a children's book by Benno Pludra. It was first published in 1963 by Kinderbuchverlag Berlin in the GDR. The story is about Lütt Matten („little Martin“), who lives in a fishing village on the Baltic coast. It's about fishing and danger - everything turns out well in the end. Let's wish the same for this ship.