The history of BLS Navigation

In 1834, the Knechtenhofer brothers laid the foundation stone for boat excursions on Lake Thun. In order to liven things up for their hotel in Thun, they ordered a 16 horse-power iron steamboat from the Cavé engineering works in Paris. By the summer of 1835, the "Bellevue" was already operating on the Hofstetten to Neuhaus route, a trip that took around 75 minutes without any stops.

The success of this new means of transport gave hotelier David G. Matti from Kienholz the idea of bringing a small steam-powered vessel from Lake Geneva to Lake Brienz, which involved following some risky paths. From 1839, the renamed "Giessbach" started sailing between Interlaken and Brienz with a stop in Giessbach.

On the lower lake, the Knechtenhofer brothers were struggling against a second steamboad company. They joined forces with the competition and founded the "Vereinigte Dampfschifffahrts-Gesellschaft für den Thuner- und Brienzersee" – usually abbreviated to the "VDG".

Then in the winter of 1842/43, the «Bellevue» was transported to Lake Brienz, where it operated until 1857 renamed the "Faulhorn". Hotelier Matti reacted with a switch: from 1843, the "Giessbach" operated between Hofstetten and Neuhaus and was therefore in competition with the new VDG vessel, the "Niesen". In 1846, the VDG purchased the boat from Matti and renamed it the "Helvetia".

By 1856 another competitor had popped up on Lake Brienz: the then owners of the Hotel Giessbach started up boat trips to Interlaken and Brienz with their own screw steamer, the "Giessbach". In 1857, the hotel, along with its boat, passed into the ownership of the VDG. Shortly afterwards, the "Giessbach" was decommissioned – supposedly due to a design fault. In 1870, the VDG sold on the Giessbach hotel and boat.

In 1859, the railway line between Bern, Münsingen and Thun was opened. Two years later, it was extended to Scherzligen, enabling direct connections to the steamships heading towards Interlaken.

During this period, several additional steamships entered service on Lakes Thun and Brienz: the “Stadt Thun” (1856), “Interlaken” (1857), “Giessbach” (1859) and “Stadt Bern” (1861). The “Faulhorn” was converted into a towing barge and returned to Lake Thun, where it sank in a storm near Oberhofen in 1864.

Traffic on Lake Thun had meanwhile increased significantly, and freight transport had to be shifted from passenger ships to towing barges. In 1861, the steamship company acquired the Aare tugboat “Neptun” for this purpose, which remained in service until 1873.

Dissatisfied stakeholders from the Interlaken region founded the Oberländische Dampfschifffahrts-Gesellschaft in 1869 in opposition to the VDG services on Lake Brienz. However, the company was liquidated before it could begin operations. As a result, the ordered saloon steamer entered service in 1870 under the name “Oberland” for the VDG.

Several more steamships were launched during this period: the “Beatus” (1871), “Brienz” (1871) and “Bubenberg” (1874). The timing of this fleet expansion proved favourable, as traffic on Lakes Thun and Brienz increased noticeably after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71.

In 1874, the Bödeli Railway was opened. This led to the relocation of the upper terminus of the Lake Thun steamships from Neuhaus to Därligen and to the discontinuation of navigation between Interlaken and Bönigen. As early as 1873, the Bödeli Railway had introduced its own ferry vessel on the Scherzligen–Därligen route, capable of transporting four to five freight wagons. From 1886 onwards, a second ferry vessel with a capacity of five to six freight wagons was also used.

The opening of several additional railways within only a few years had a positive effect on the development of navigation: the Brünig Railway (1888), the Thun Lake–Beatenberg Railway (1889), the Bernese Oberland Railways (1890) and the Brienz Rothorn Railway (1892). As the Bernese Oberland Railways were also connected to the Bödeli Railway at Zollhaus station (today Interlaken Ost), where the company built a new station, the ship route between Bönigen and Interlaken was reopened in 1891.

In 1889, the Lake Thun fleet was expanded with the addition of a new steamer called the "Helvetia" in order to be able to meet the increasing demand. In view of the completion of the railway between Scherzligen and Därligen, the VDG had the 2.75 km long ship canal from Lake Thun to Interlaken West station built between 1890 and 1892, and this still operates today.

After opening the Lake Thun Railway in 1893, the boat service initially had to accept considerable financial losses which were fortunately compensated for by an increase in tourism. However, the time of the ferry service was well and truly over.

Taken into service on Lake Thun were the tugboat "Neptune" (1901), the screw steamer "Spiez" intended for local passenger transport (1901) and the handsome saloon steamer "Blümlisalp" (1906). Meanwhile on Lake Brienz the steamboat "Jungfrau" (1898) and motor cargo vessel "Mercur" (1901) were put into operation.

After tough negotiations in 1912, the VDG and Lake Thun Railway merged, only to be taken over in 1913 by the Bernese Alpine railway company, Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon (BLS). BLS has been responsible for navigation services on both lakes of the Bernese Oberland ever since.

Shortly before the First World War, navigation services on both lakes experienced a temporary highpoint: in 1914 the new saloon steamer "Lötschberg" was put into service. However, after only nine days it was taken out of service because of the breakout of war.

The era of proud saloon steamers was over – the easy-going belle époque was overtaken by reality. Shipping came almost completely to a standstill and was occasionally stopped entirely in the winter of 1917/18 due to a lack of coal.

During this period, there also came the opening of the Lake Thun Railway on the right bank (1914) and the Brünig Railway was extended from Brienz to Interlaken (1916). These two rail lines made navigation services for the most part redundant for non-scheduled services.

Because of the coal shortage and to rationalise operational management, the motor cargo vessel "Mercur" was replaced in 1918 by the motor vessel "Mars" which had been active on Lake Lucerne. From then on, it sailed Lake Brienz as the "Iseltwald".

In 1920, BLS purchased the MS "Astra" from the Lake Lucerne Steamboat Company which was put into operation on Lake Thun as the MS "Gunten".

With the amalgamation of the old Thun and Scherzligen stations to become the new central Thun railway station, in 1923 the question of linking the railway with navigation services on Lake Thun was discussed. The ideal solution came about in 1925 with the construction of the ship canal to the new rail station.

At the end of the 1920s, passenger traffic increased again and primarily on Lake Thun. But the economic crisis of the 1930s hit navigation services hard again. In the wake of rationalisation, there followed the acquisition of the motor vessels "Morgarten" (in 1928, in service from 1949 as the "Harder") and the "Niesen" (1935). This meant the end of the line for the steamboats "Stadt Thun" (1929) and "Oberland" (1932).

In 1936, the Swiss franc fell in value by 30 per cent, which resulted in a renewed increase in tourism in the Bernese Oberland. Therefore, two new motor vessels were launched in 1940: the "Thun" and the "Oberhofen", which had been used in 1939 for the Swiss National Exhibition in Zurich. Scarcely had tourism recovered when the Second World War broke out.

The end of the Second World War marked the beginning of a new golden age of tourism. Many vessels had become outdated in the meantime and were no longer cost-effective, so replacement of the Lake Thun fleet was on the horizon.

On Lake Brienz on the other hand, after many years of deficit, the question of a complete halt to operations arose. However, as the surrounding regions are dependent on income from tourism, BLS decided to also rejuvenate the fleet here. So in 1950 the MS "Rothorn" and in 1956 the MS "Interlaken" were both launched. The last two newcomers to Lake Brienz are the motor vessels "Iseltwald" (1969) and "Brienz" (1981).

In a spectacular feat of transportation in 1999, the Lake Thun vessel "Jungfrau" was moved over to Lake Brienz and provided with a new, ornate coat of paint. The smaller MS "Harder" was sold in the middle of 2001. It has been working since then as the "Schwan" on Lake Zug.

A series of further motor vessels followed on Lake Thun: the "Jungfrau" (1954), "Stadt Bern" (1956), "Niederhorn" (1959), "Bubenberg" (1962) and "Beatus" (1963). In 1971, the saloon steamer "Blümlisalp" was withdrawn from service, only to be replaced by a motor vessel bearing the same name. After recommissioning of the old "Blümlisalp", it was renamed the "Stadt Thun" in 1992. The fleet was further expanded with the MS "Stockhorn" in 1974 and the MS "Berner Oberland" in 1996.

In the year 2000, BLS tried to achieve increased passenger numbers even in poor weather thanks to "themed boats": in the winter of 2000/2001, thanks to an idea from Thun artist Heinz von Gunten, the "Stadt Thun" was converted into a dragon ship. This one-of-a-kind vessel attracted great attention, even beyond Switzerland's borders.

It was also possible to simultaneously establish the "Fabulous Lake Thun adventure region", in which a series of products and services were offered bearing a dragon logo. In the winter of 2003/2004, the dragon ship was turned back into the "Stadt Thun".

But even traditional boat trips were not short-changed in the meantime: in the 2000/2001 winter, the Lake Brienz steamer the "Lötschberg" was renovated according to specifications from the Swiss Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments. The new seminar and event vessel, the MS "Schilthorn" with its modern technical infrastructure, has also been operating on Lake Thun since June 2002.

In 2006, the steamboat "Blümlisalp" celebrated its 100th birthday. In the winter before this, the "old lady" was cleaned up ready for the celebrations with a major renovation project.

In 2008 and in keeping with the times, the MS "Stockhorn" was converted into the first lounge boat in Switzerland. In the same year, the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) honoured the restoration of the saloon steamer "Lötschberg" with the "2008 Special Award".

In 2009, Bernese Oberland Navigation reported record utilisation of its scheduled service boats.