The Lake Zurich Navigation Company (, ZSG) is a public

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

company operating passenger ships and boats on

Lake Zurich Lake Zurich (, ; ) is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zurich. Depending on the context, Lake Zurich or can be used to describe the lake as a whole, or just that part of the lake downstream of the Hurden peninsula and ...

() and the river

Limmat The Limmat is a river in Switzerland. The river commences at the outfall of Lake Zurich, in the southern part of the city of Zurich. From Zurich it flows in a northwesterly direction, continuing a further 35 km until it reaches the river A ...

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

.The company's services connect lake-side towns between Zurich and

Rapperswil Rapperswil (Swiss German: or ;Andres Kristol, ''Rapperswil SG (See)'' in: ''Dictionnaire toponymique des communes suisses – Lexikon der schweizerischen Gemeindenamen – Dizionario toponomastico dei comuni svizzeri (DTS, LSG)'', Centre de dial ...

Schmerikon Schmerikon is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of See-Gaster (Wahlkreis), See-Gaster in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of St. Gallen (canton), St. Gallen in Switzerland. In the local Swiss Germa ...

, in the

cantons A canton is a type of administrative division of a country. In general, cantons are relatively small in terms of area and population when compared with other administrative divisions such as counties, departments, or provinces. Internationally, th ...

Schwyz Schwyz (; ; ) is a town and the capital of the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. The Federal Charter of 1291 or ''Bundesbrief'', the charter that eventually led to the foundation of Switzerland, can be seen at the ''Bundesbriefmuseum''. The of ...

and St. Gallen, as well as more

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity on ...

-oriented river cruises and boat services through the historic centre of the city of Zurich. It is a member of the Zurich Public Transport Network (, ZVV) and transports over 1.5 million passengers every year.ZSG: Geschichte
The ZSG is a

joint stock company A joint-stock company (JSC) is a business entity in which shares of the company's capital stock, stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their share (finance), shares (certifi ...

with a

share capital A corporation's share capital, commonly referred to as capital stock in the United States, is the portion of a corporation's equity that has been derived by the issue of shares in the corporation to a shareholder, usually for cash. ''Share ...

of 11 million

Swiss Franc The Swiss franc, or simply the franc, is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It is also legal tender in the Italian exclave of Campione d'Italia which is surrounded by Swiss territory. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) iss ...

s (CHF). The share capital – one third is in private hands – is divided into 110,000 bearer shares, each with a nominal value of CHF 100.

History

Steam navigation A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be transf ...

started on Lake Zurich in 1834, when Franz Carl Caspar and Johann Jakob Lämmlin founded a new company () and ordered their first ship from

William Fairbairn Sir William Fairbairn, 1st Baronet of Ardwick (19 February 1789 – 18 August 1874) was a Scotland, Scottish civil engineer, structural engineer and shipbuilder. In 1854 he succeeded George Stephenson and Robert Stephenson to become the third ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The entered service the following year. When the city fortifications were abolished, the then called ''

Bauschänzli Bauschänzli is an artificial island, town square, and public park in Zürich, Switzerland. Bauschänzli (diminutive of "construction entrenchment") is one of the last remains of the Baroque fortifications of Zürich which began in 1642. The nei ...

'' bastion remained intact, and served from 1835 to 1883 as the landing site for the first steamboats on the lake, later provided by the . Over the years, various other companies started operating steam ships on the lake, and various mergers took place, until the entire fleet was taken over by the

Swiss Northeastern Railway The Swiss Northeastern Railway (''Schweizerische Nordostbahn''; NOB) was an early railway company in Switzerland. It also operated shipping on Lake Constance (''Bodensee'') and Lake Zürich. Until the merger of the Western Swiss Railways into the ...

(NOB) in 1874. The NOB also owned most of the railway network around the lake, and this monopoly led to consumer resistance, and to the formation of the () in 1890/91. In order to operate a

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

-like suburban traffic, a series of nine screw steamships was ordered. When the NOB became part of the

Swiss Federal Railways Swiss Federal Railways (, SBB; , CFF; , FFS) is the national railway company of Switzerland. The company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Bern. It used to be a State-owned enterprise, government institution, but since 1999 it has be ...

in 1903, the took over its fleet of ships on Lake Zurich. This included the large

paddle steamer A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine driving paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, whereby the first uses were wh ...

''Helvetia''. In 1909 and 1914, it ordered two further large paddle steamers, which were to become today's ''Stadt Zürich'' and ''Stadt Rapperswil'' respectively. In 1934 the introduced its first successful

motor ship A motor ship or motor vessel is a ship propelled by an internal combustion engine, usually a diesel engine. The names of motor ships are often prefixed with MS, M/S, MV or M/V. Engines for motorships were developed during the 1890s, and by th ...

, the ''Etzel'', and from then on the fleet became increasingly motorized. For the , four sister motor ships named after

water bird A water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird, is a bird that lives on or around water. In some definitions, the term ''water bird'' is especially applied to birds in freshwater ecosystems, although others make no distinction from seabi ...

s, the (

Eurasian coot The Eurasian coot (''Fulica atra''), also known as the common coot, or Australian coot, is a member of the rail and crake bird family, the Rallidae. It is found in Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and parts of North Africa. It has a slaty-bla ...

), (

Swan Swans are birds of the genus ''Cygnus'' within the family Anatidae. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe (biology) ...

), (

gull Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the subfamily Larinae. They are most closely related to terns and skimmers, distantly related to auks, and even more distantly related to waders. Until the 21st century, most gulls were placed ...

) and (

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family (biology), family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and goose, geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfam ...

), were brought into service. These vessels provided a connecting service between the two exhibition sites, at

Wollishofen Wollishofen is a neighbourhood in Zürich's district 2 (Zürich), 2nd district, situated in the eastern foothills of Uetliberg. It was formerly a municipality of its own, having been incorporated into Zürich in 1893. The neighbourhood has a popul ...

and

Zürichhorn Zürichhorn is a river delta on Zürichsee's eastern shore in the lower basin of the lake. The area is part of the parks and quays in the Seefeld (Zürich), Seefeld quarter of the city of Zürich in Switzerland. The gardens are one of the most popu ...

. The

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

brought economic difficulties, but the cross-lake services were maintained. As a consequence of the transition from steam power to motor vessels, the company changed its name to , or ''ZSG'' for short, in 1957. In 1990, the ZSG became part of the

Zürcher Verkehrsverbund The Zürcher Verkehrsverbund (ZVV), is the largest public transportation network in Switzerland. It covers the canton of Zurich and adjacent areas. All modes of public transportation (rail, light rail, bus, trolleybus, lake passenger liner, fun ...

(ZVV), the public transport network established in the same year, accepting the ZVVs common tickets and tariffs. In 2009 there was a

centennial A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century. Notable events Notable centennial events at a national or world-level include: * Centennial Exhibition, 1876, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...

exhibition on board '' Stadt Zürich'' at Zürich- Bürkliplatz. On 12 June 2009, exactly 100 years after the maiden voyage of the steamship ''Stadt Zürich'', its anniversary trip with invited guests and its sistership '' Stadt Rapperswil'' was celebrated., and in 2014 for its then 100 years aged sistership.

Fleet

Current fleet

A fleet of 17

passenger ship A passenger ship is a merchant ship whose primary function is to carry passengers on the sea. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freig ...

s, including two historical

s – '' Stadt Zürich'' (built in 1909) and '' Stadt Rapperwil'' (1914) – and 15 motor vessels of various sizes is operated by the . ZSG's

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...

MS ''Helvetia'' has a capacity of 1200 passengers. The fleet includes three small Limmat boats for round trips on the

and on the lower Lake Zurich at Zurich.

Former fleet

The paddle steamer ''Helvetia'', built in 1875 and last operated in 1958, was scrapped in 1964. Of the four so-called ''Landi-Boote'' built for the Swiss national exposition () of 1939, ''Ente'' was sold to the BLS after the exhibition, whilst ''Schwan'' (renamed ''Halbinsel Au''), ''Möve'' and ''Taucherli'' (renamed ''Speer'') continued in service until the end of the 1990s, when they were replaced by three motor ships (300 passengers each) of the ''Albis'' type – ''Albis'', ''Pfannenstiel'' and ''Uetliberg'' – in addition to two smaller (150 passengers each) motor ships – ''Zimmerberg'' and ''Forch''.

Operations

The ZSG operates regular round trips from its main Zurich landing point at Bürkliplatz. In summer, trips taking 4 hours operate every hour and stop on both shores of the lower lake at

, Kilchberg-Bendlikon, Küsnacht-Heslibach,

Küsnacht Küsnacht () is a municipality in the district of Meilen in the canton of Zürich, Switzerland. History Küsnacht is first mentioned in 1188 as ''de Cussenacho''. Earliest findings of settlement date back to the Stone Age. There are also findi ...

Zollikon Zollikon is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in Meilen District in the canton of Zürich, Switzerland known for being one of Switzerland's most exclusive districts. Besides the main settlement of Zollikon, which lies on the shore of L ...

Meilen Meilen is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Meilen (district), Meilen in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Zürich (canton), Zürich in Switzerland. History Archaeological finds in Meilen date back more than ...

Herrliberg Herrliberg is a municipality in the district of Meilen in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. History There are findings dating back to the Bronze Age. In the 8th century, a village called ''Tächliswil'' was established. A hamlet calle ...

Rüschlikon Rüschlikon is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Horgen District, Horgen in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Zürich (canton), Zürich in Switzerland. It is located on the west shore of Lake Zürich. Coat of ar ...

Thalwil Thalwil is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality and town in the district of Horgen (district), Horgen in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Zurich (canton), Zürich in Switzerland. The municipality includes two parts: Thalwil and Gatti ...

, Erlenbach,

Oberrieden Oberrieden is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Horgen (district), Horgen in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Zurich (canton), Zurich in Switzerland. It is one of the towns along the south shore of Lake Zurich ...

Horgen Horgen () is a municipality in the district of Horgen in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. It is one of the larger towns along the south bank of the Lake of Zurich. On 1 January 2018 the former municipality of Hirzel merged into the mu ...

, Au peninsula,

Wädenswil Wädenswil (locally often called ''Wättischwiil'', ''Wädischwiil'' or ''Wädi'') is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality located in the district of Horgen (district), Horgen in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Zürich (canton), Z� ...

Richterswil Richterswil (Swiss German: ''Richtischwiil'' ) is a municipality in the district of Horgen in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. History Richterswil is first mentioned in 1265 as ''Richtliswile''. During the 17th Century, a series of peasan ...

Stäfa Stäfa () is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Meilen (district), Meilen in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Zurich (canton), Zürich in Switzerland. Geography Stäfa has an area of . Of this area, 46.1% is ...

Männedorf Männedorf (High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Mänidoorf'') is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Meilen (district), Meilen in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Zurich (canton), Zürich in Switzerland. His ...

Ufenau Ufenau is an island located, with the neighbouring island of Lützelau, in Lake Zürich in Switzerland between Freienbach ( away) and Rapperswil ( away). Highlights on Ufenau include ''St. Peter & Paul'' church, ''St. Martin's'' chapel, and Ufena ...

island and

. A few trips continue through the Hurden ship canal to the upper lake, or ''Obersee'', calling at Altendorf, Lachen and

, and take 7 hours. There also are shorter round trips from Zürich-Bürkliplatz, with 2.5 hour trips as far as Richterswil or Stäfa, and 1.5 hour trips to Erlenbach and Thalwil. The company also operates services on the

through the centre of Zurich. These services operate upriver from the Landesmuseum via

Limmatquai ''Limmatquai'' () is a street in the Switzerland, Swiss city of Zurich. It is named after the Limmat, and it follows the right-hand (eastern) bank of that river for about through the ''Altstadt (Zürich), Altstadt'', or historical core, of the c ...

and Storchen to Lake Zurich, stopping at Bürkliplatz, Enge and

, before returning downriver to the Landesmuseum. Because of the low bridges over the Limmat in central Zurich, these services use low profile motor boats. The ZSG employs approximatively 80 permanent members of staff, and in the main summer season (April–December) five additional nautical seasonal workers, as well as seven staff in the ticket office at Zürich-Bürkliplatz. In its own ship yard at Zürich-

work qualified carpenters, painters, mechanics, electricians, plumbers and locksmiths.

References

External links

Zürichsee Schifffahrtsgesellschaft web site (English language subset)

* ttp://www.zsg.ch/de_home.html Zürichsee Schifffahrtsgesellschaft web site (full German language version)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zurichsee-Schifffahrtsgesellschaft Companies based in Zurich Transport companies established in 1891 Ferry transport in Switzerland Lake Zurich Limmat Paddle steamers Shipping companies of Switzerland Transport in the canton of St. Gallen Transport in the canton of Schwyz Transport in the canton of Zürich Transport in Zurich Swiss companies established in 1891