Hans Georg Näder on the site of the former Bötzow brewery on Prenzlauer Allee. aslu/ullstein image via Getty Images
Prosthesis billionaire Hans-Georg Näder is an enthusiastic sailor and owner of the shipyard “Baltic Yachts”. A few years ago, Näder publicly announced that he was changing course in shipbuilding. It should be “green and sustainable,” he told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung” at the time. For many years, Näder sailed a 54-meter-long sailing yacht “Pink Gin IV,” which was built primarily with carbon. Näder is said to have now sold this boat, which is actually environmentally friendly – and is now using a fully motorized ship, SeaXplorer Pink Shadow with a ship’s diesel tank of 188,000 liters and an estimated consumption of 38 liters per nautical mile.
Hans-Georg Näder had big plans for 2020. The passionate sailor wanted to change the course of shipbuilding. It should be “green and sustainable,” Näder told “FAS” at the time. He is the owner of the Ottobock group, known as a prosthesis billionaire and, for several years now, also as the owner of the “Baltic Yachts” shipyard.
His plan was worthy of honor, as shipping is anything but green to this day. Ships thunder about a billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year, making them responsible for around three percent of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.
Näder himself sailed a magnificent sailing yacht called “Pink Gin IV”, which was built primarily with carbon and is 54 meters long. An old sailor’s saying goes: Length matters. Trade magazines believe that the carbon yacht can sail the world‘s oceans at more than 20 knots. Näder was proud of the Pink Gin and showed it to interested specialists and journalists.
Now he has apparently sold the yacht, reports “Superyacht Times”. The last known price point was more than 25.5 million euros. So the prosthetic billionaire is giving up and is now betting on a fully motorized yacht: the SeaXplorer Pink Shadow, 58 meters long, with a helicopter landing pad, a pool and a top speed of up to an incredible 14.5 knots.
Specialist magazines report that the interior of the boat is primarily inspired by the film Fitzcarraldo by Werner Herzog, in which Klaus Kinsky plays an eccentric, leads a steamer on an impossible mission and ultimately converts the ship’s deck into an opera house in the Amazon. Näder seems to be impressed by this idea.
The only problem is that the motorized ship doesn’t quite fit in with his narrative of green shipping. According to the brochure, the SeaXplorer Pink Shadow can hold up to 188,000 liters of fuel and consumes more than 38 liters per nautical mile. A proud value. Given the key data, the ship would burn more than 400 liters per hour at 11.5 knots – for the pleasure of a billionaire and his entourage. After his long, light and actually sustainable sailing yacht Pink Gin, the billionaire’s new diesel tanker seems like a green step backwards.
And what does the billionaire say about that? We sent Näder a long list of questions on the topic. A spokeswoman left the questions unanswered.