Wyker Dampfschiffs-Reederei Schedules 2026

The Wyker Dampfschiffs-Reederei — W.D.R. to everyone on the coast — has been running the ferries to Germany's North Frisian islands since 1885. It is less a holiday operator than a lifeline: the same ships carry the groceries, the building materials and the post, which is why the first boat off Föhr leaves at five in the morning and why the service runs on 2 January as readily as in August. The head office is on the quay at Wyk auf Föhr.

Three routes, two very different jobs

From Dagebüll on the mainland, ferries run to Wyk auf Föhr in 50 minutes and to Wittdün on Amrum in 90 — or 120 if the sailing calls at Föhr on the way, which most of them do. A separate service leaves Schlüttsiel for the Halligen of Hooge and Langeneß, tiny unembanked islands that flood several times each winter. In high summer Dagebüll–Föhr runs nineteen times a day; the Hallig boat runs twice, and in the off season not at all on Mondays or Wednesdays.

Ships built for shallow water

The mainstays are three double-ended ferries — Uthlande (2010), Schleswig-Holstein (2011) and Norderaue (2018) — which need no turning basin and draw as little as 1.70 m, because the Wadden Sea gives them nothing deeper. Four Voith-Schneider propellers apiece make them unusually manoeuvrable at their 12-knot service speed, and they burn marine gas oil to meet the RAL-UZ 141 environmental design standard. Uthlande takes 1,200 passengers and about 75 vehicles and won a Ship Pax Award in 2011; Norderaue was the first in the fleet able to load lorries four abreast. The smaller Nordfriesland also works the island line, and the little Hilligenlei serves the Halligen. The 2019 catamaran Rüm Hart is chartered to Adler-Schiffe for excursion sailings.

Tickets and boarding

Fares are modest by ferry standards: €10.30 one way to Föhr, €14.40 to Amrum, €11.30 to the Halligen, with return tickets valid two months. Children under six and dogs travel free, and bicycles cost €9.40 return — but bikes must be at the loading point 15 minutes before departure. Book vehicles as soon as the date is fixed; foot passengers can buy at the machines or counters in Dagebüll, Wyk, Wittdün and Schlüttsiel. Rail passengers can buy a Deutsche Bahn ticket with the crossing included, and the neg railway runs onto the pier at Dagebüll. Low water and storms can move sailings at short notice.