Christening ceremony of the East Indiaman
On September 3, in beautiful Indian summer weather, Queen Silvia of Sweden smashed a champagne bottle into the bow of the Götheborg, an East Indiaman bound for China and back on a voyage that will start in a year’s time. It will return to Gothenburg, Sweden, in October 2007, the year SKF celebrates its centenary.
On September 3, in beautiful Indian summer weather, Queen Silvia of Sweden smashed a champagne bottle into the bow of the Götheborg, an East Indiaman bound for China and back on a voyage that will start in a year’s time. It will return to Gothenburg, Sweden, in October 2007, the year SKF celebrates its centenary.
With full masts and sails set, the ship was dressed for the occasion.
His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustav is the patron and together with ambassadors, representatives from the harbours, the Swedish Government and the Gothenburg administration, as well as other distinguished guests and a large crowd of interested people from Gothenburg, he watched a show containing salutes from the ship’s cannons, music from the upper deck, the handing over of naming-ceremony gifts and spectacular acrobatics performed from one of the masts.
Test sailings of the Götheborg will start in April 2005, and the voyage to China will start in the autumn of 2005 via Cadiz in Spain, Recife in Brazil, Port Elisabeth in South Africa, Fremantle in Australia, Djakarta in Indonesia, and then Canton and Shanghai. SKF is financing the finishing of the ship.
