Rescue at the Water’s Edge: When Every Second Counts

Author: Alexander Föll

Oct 28, 2026Corporate

With his invention for the Port of Kiel, Frank Klug, an employee at the local DEKRA branch, has closed a gap in rescuing people from the water in ports. The ‘Harbour Hoist’ is a compact, easy-to-use rescue system with a mobile platform designed for the specific conditions found in cargo and cruise ports. In the future, it could make ports around the world safer.

Between Quay Wall and Ship: Why Water Rescue in the Harbor Basin Is So Difficult

A person falls into a harbor basin – what should be done? Several factors make it difficult to rescue people from the water in a large seaport, including quay walls that are five to ten meters high. Rescue teams may also have to cover long distances to reach the scene in time. And the window for action is small: a person may survive in cold water for anywhere between five minutes and half an hour.

Without a standardised reporting system, it is only possible to estimate roughly how often such accidents occur across Europe. Based on the available port and safety data, however, there are likely to be several hundred ‘person in the water’ incidents each year.

Christian Hainke, Operations Manager at the Port of Kiel, has spent considerable time exploring how people who fall into the water can be rescued quickly and safely. Handling around eight million tonnes of cargo and more than 2.8 million passengers, the Port of Kiel ranks among the most diverse and important ferry and cruise ports in the Baltic Sea region..

More Safety in the Port: Harbour Hoist as a Smart Water Rescue System

Initial rescue exercises with the local German Life Saving Association (DLRG) and the fire brigade made one thing clear to Hainke: a solution must be available directly on site in an emergency. After all, the Port of Kiel’s four port areas cover around 70 hectares – almost 100 football pitches. The solution is the ‘Harbour Hoist’, a mobile rescue system that could save lives in the future.

For Frank Klug, an occupational safety specialist at DEKRA, this was more than an ordinary assignment. He has volunteered in civil protection for over 30 years and knows the challenges of rescue operations from first-hand experience. He began experimenting, drawing plans and developing initial concepts. Working with the port workshop, he created the innovative system in around a year.

The Smart Water Rescue System is Easy to Use, Even for Non-Experts

The Harbour Hoist’s key advantage is that it requires no special infrastructure. Any forklift truck available at the port can pick up the device and transport it to the scene within minutes. The boom is short enough to avoid hitting the ship’s steep side if someone has fallen into the water between the vessel and the quay wall. ‘Even if the fire brigade arrived quickly enough, it would not be able to extend its turntable ladder far enough in that space to deploy a high-angle rescue device. And the water police or the DLRG cannot get their boats into this gap, which is only 1.5 to 2 metres wide,’ Klug explains.

Pictograms attached to the platform show how the device works without using words. From the outset, the port management wanted to ensure that anyone could operate it without specialist training.

 Tests Conducted with the BGHW Occupational Safety Association Were Successful

Initial tests conducted with the German Social Accident Insurance Institution for the trade and logistics industry (BGHW) confirmed that the design works. Now, the Port of Kiel wants to go further. ‘Ideally, a Harbour Hoist would be available in every port area,’ says Operations Manager Christian Hainke. The port workshop must therefore build at least three more rescue systems.

The ‘Harbour Hoist’ is due to enter the BGHW’s ‘Golden Hand’ competition. For Frank Klug, however, that is not what matters most. His goal is for the system to be used in as many ports as possible in the future – and to help save lives in an emergency.