Overview

• The revised burial law is now in force and authorizes urn releases from vessels on the Rhine, Mosel, Saar and Lahn.
• The state Health Ministry has begun accepting applications for special permits, with a detailed regulation to later define eligible stretches and standardized procedures.
• Early pilot runs on the Mosel outline that a funeral company employee lowers a cellulose urn designed to dissolve quickly after sinking.
• Ceremonies can be conducted with or without relatives and with or without a boat trip, and the featured ship’s upper deck can accommodate about 60 mourners.
• Industry interest is already strong, with shipowner Joachim Zimmermann reporting contacts from a dozen-plus funeral homes, and the reform also enables shroud burials, ash-to-diamond creation, limited ash scattering and keeping urns at home driven by cost and local attachment.