Duckdalben International Seamen's Club

The Duckdalben seamen's club opened as a facility of the Seemannsmission Harburg on 13 August 1986 on the Zellmannstrasse located beneath the Köhlbrand Bridge in the Duty Free Port (Waltershof).

Relief came in 1994 with plans to add a major expansion that included rainwater collection and solar warm water systems, and which was made possible through the generous financial support of the International Transport Workers' Federation ITF.

[2] In the upper floor of the main building is the "Room of Silence" chapel that was designed with worship and prayer niches for seafarers with varying religions and denominations.

They can also telephone with friends and family at especially favourable rates and carry out simple bank, post and currency exchange transactions.

[1] The seamen's club is under the direction of Port Chaplains Anke Wibel and Jan Oltmanns, who was awarded the Order of Merit for his dedication and extraordinary service.

Seamen are mostly looked after by the employees, volunteers and young persons completing their voluntary year of social service in Duckdalben itself, but also on board the ships.

The financing of Duckdalben is ensured among others by contributions from the Evangelic Lutheran Church, the Hamburg Port Authority and the ITF Seafarers Trust, by donations from several ship-owners and many private sponsors, and through sales proceeds in the shop.

In church services on 18 August 2018, Port Chaplain Jörn Hille was formally inducted in the position of ship visitor.

In 2016 ISWAN, the international network for seafarers, presented the Duckdalben Seamen's Club with the first-ever "Judges' Special Award".

For the last 30 years the highly qualified and dedicated colleagues of the Duckdalben International Seamen's Club have provided service to seafarers."

The award ceremony took place on 24 June 2016 as part of a celebration hosted by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in Manila.