History
Boat trips on Lake Zürich are likely to be about as old as the settlement of its banks, meaning before 4000 BC.
from 2024
The three identical Albis-class ships will be electrified. The first of these will be the MS Uetliberg, which is due to enter service in June 2025. In the following winters, the sister ships MS Albis and MS Pfannenstiel will be converted.
2023
Our new all-electric Limmat boats EMS Fluvius, EMS Pontus and MS Navalis are christened in a festive ceremony and go into service.
2022
The shipyard gets a makeover and modern office workplaces. The rooms around the reception were rearranged, walls were knocked down, thermal insulation was renewed, windows were sealed and false floors were removed.
2020
The bearer shares of Zürichsee-Schifffahrtsgesellschaft AG will be converted into registered shares.
from 2012
In the large motor ships of the 1960s, the continuously variable pitch propellers are constantly being replaced by fixed propellers driven by forward and reverse gears.
2007
With the Panta Rhei motor vessel, a comfortable ship for year-round operation is put into service.
2006
The motor ship Glärnisch (built in 1955) is sold and is now moored in the port of Wädenswil as a permanently stationed restaurant ship and contemporary witness from the 1950s.
2001
The two identical motor vessels Forch and Zimmerberg are purchased to provide modern access to cross-town traffic.
1997 - 99
The three identical ships Albis, Pfannenstiel and Üetliberg are put into operation and replace the three former Landi ships Speer, Halbinsel Au and Möve from 1939. The new ships almost double the passenger frequency. The old Landi ships are sold to the Netherlands and Belgium, laying the foundation for the subsequent preservation of the Etzel.
1992 / 93
The three Limmat boats Turicum, Felix and Regula enter service and replace the three canal boats built in 1959.
1990
The Lake Zurich Navigation Company is integrated into the Zurich Transport Association (ZVV).
1983 / 34
ZSG is building the new shipyard at its site in Zurich-Wollishofen. At the heart of the new facility is the vertical ship lift with a lifting capacity of 440 tons. It is the first and still the only facility of its kind in Switzerland.
1970 / 72
The private association Aktion pro Raddampfer prevents the decommissioning of the paddle steamer Stadt Rapperswil. Under pressure from the public, the ZSG decides to increase its share capital and use the funds raised to renovate the steamship Stadt Rapperswil. In 1977, the Board of Directors decides to preserve both paddle steamers as contemporary witnesses.
1962 - 68
A total of three new motor vessels (MS Bachtel, MS Helvetia, MS Wädenswil) are commissioned. Together with the four newbuildings from the 1950s and the motor vessels from the pre-war period, ZSG now has 15 motor vessels and two paddle steamers. The last real steam swallow Lützelau is used for the last time on the G59. From 1964, the new motor vessel Helvetia, with a capacity of 1500 passengers (today 1000 passengers), becomes the new flagship of the fleet and remains so to this day.
1959
A canal-like boat service based on the Amsterdam model is set up for the G59 horticultural exhibition as a link between the main station and the exhibition. ZSG can then take over the three canal boats and start regular Limmat navigation.
1957
The planned decommissioning of the legendary paddle steamer Helvetia and the award of the contract for the subsequent new building Limmat prompts the Zürcher Dampfboot Aktien Gesellschaft (ZDG) to change its name to Zürichsee Schifffahrtsgesellschaft (ZSG).
1952
With a carrying capacity of up to 1400 people (850 people today), the motor ship Linth is the first 3-deck motor ship in Switzerland to enter service. This ship was built in Kressbronn on Lake Constance in Germany. The Bodan shipyard based there will supply the future new ships for the next 50 years, as the once world-famous Swiss shipbuilders Escher Wyss and Gebrüder Sulzer have ceased shipbuilding.
1943
Thanks to the construction of the new Oberseekanal near Hurden, ZDG is extending its timetable to Schmerikon. Thanks to the clearance height of nine meters, all ZDG ships can now pass under the new road and railroad bridge into the scenic Zurich-Obersee.
1939
The Swiss National Exhibition takes place in Zurich and goes down in history as the «Landi» in the midst of the outbreak of the Second World War. As a result, ZDG is able to acquire three of the four ships from the Swiss National Exhibition. These ships are also propelled by controllable pitch propellers. This propulsion system would become the new standard propulsion system for Lake Zurich ships for the next 70 years.
1934
In preparation for the planned Swiss National Exhibition in Zurich, the motor ship Etzel, the first vessel designed from the ground up as a diesel motor ship, is put into operation (the motor ships Uto and Wädenswil were converted steamers). Built by the Escher Wyss company, this ship was equipped with the world's first hydraulic controllable pitch propeller for propulsion, thus making shipping history. The Etzel is still preserved today and is operated by an association founded by ZSG employees.
1909 - 1914
The spirit of the Belle Epoque arrives on Lake Zurich. Travel becomes an experience, comfort on board is important. The steamship Stadt Zürich is put into service in 1909. The sister ship Stadt Rapperswil is launched in 1914. Thanks to the Aktion pro Raddampfer association (founded in 1970), both ships are still in regular use today and still exude the splendor of those days.
1907
During the conversion of the screw steamer Schwalbe (1864), the ship is equipped with a diesel engine. As a result, the ship is renamed MS Uto (old name for Üetliberg), returns to service in 1909 and is one of the first diesel-powered ships in Switzerland at the time.
1903
With the creation of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), the ships of the Nordostbahn Gesellschaft (NOB) became the property of the ZDG. The paddle steamer Helvetia (built in 1875) with a capacity of 1200 passengers is particularly worth mentioning in this context. Together with an identical ship on Lake Geneva (DS Mont Blanc), it was the largest steamship in Switzerland at the time. As the ships Wädenswil and Speer of the Dampfboot Gesellschaft Wädenswil had already been taken over in 1900, the ZDG now had the entire fleet of ships on Lake Zurich and the site in Zurich-Wollishofen with various buildings, including the shipyard, at a single stroke.
1894 - 97
Thanks to good passenger frequencies, four large screw wheel steamers for 100 passengers each are put into service. These are named Goldbach, Küsnacht, Neu-Zürich and Bendlikon. The DS Neu-Zürich is renamed DS Thalwil in 1897 and converted into a motor vessel (MS Thalwil) in 1935. This ship still exists today and is used as a children's playground at the Lucerne Museum of Transport.
1890
The Zürcher Dampfboot-Aktien-Gesellschaft (ZDG) is founded in Zurich in opposition to the imminent cessation of shipping operations on Lake Zurich (the railroad is gaining ground). A series of five screw steamers is commissioned to provide a tram-like suburban service on Lake Zurich. From 1892/93, these steamers were to run regularly from the Rathausbrücke (Limmat) to Wollishofen and Tiefenbrunnen as well as to Küsnacht and Thalwil. The ZDG depot is still located in Kilchberg. This is the year in which today's Lake Zurich Navigation Company was officially founded.
1874
The Nordostbahngesellschaft, founder of the left-bank railroad, takes over the entire fleet of ships on Lake Zurich.
1864
The Left Bank Steamboat Company is founded in Horgen. This company builds the Schwalbe screw steamer, which is converted into a diesel-powered vessel in 1909, making it one of the first motorized vessels in Switzerland. Screw boats have a long tradition on Lake Zurich: Switzerland's first ship with a screw drive was built in Rapperswil in 1843 by Jakob Lämmlin, the co-founder of steam navigation on Lake Zurich. However, it is said to have never exceeded the speed of an experienced pedestrian.
1837 - 42
Merger of the three companies to form Zürichsee- und Walenseegesellschaft AG.
1837 - 39
The two companies Linth-Escher AG and Republik AG also each build a ship bearing the company's name and enter the business on Lake Zurich.
1835
On July 19, 1835, the Minerva begins operations. At this time, there was neither rail nor car traffic.
1834
The two entrepreneurs Franz Carl Caspar (founder of the «Dampfschifffahrtsgesellschaft für den Bodensee und Rhein») and Johann Jakob Lämmlin (technical expert) found the company «Caspar und Lämmlin, Unternehmer der Dampfschifffahrt auf dem Zürcher- und Walensee» and commission the first ship from the William Fairbairn engineering works in Manchester. This first Lake Zurich ship is built in England and completes an adventurous journey across the English Channel and the then still uncorrected Rhine to Augst BL. There the ship is dismantled, transported to Zurich by horse and cart, reassembled (Escher-Wyss' first activity in shipbuilding) and christened with the auspicious name «Minerva».
