the operation required a steam ship, commissioned from the engineering office of the "hamburg-magdeburg steamship company" ("hamburg-magdeburger dampfschiffahrts-gesellschaft") and put into service in 1864. in february 1869, the high traffic level led to a second ferry being put into service. numerous breakdowns due to icing in winter and several accidents, however, showed clearly that the ferry would provide no lasting solution. with the annexation of the kingdom of hanover by prussia after the austro-prussian war of 1866, the military objections to a fixed elbe crossing was removed. it was finally decided to build a swing bridge, which was opened in 1878 after two years of construction, allowing through trains from lübeck to lüneburg.