On October 2, after more than 10 years of preparations, the Swedish ship Götheborg departed from the city of Gothenburg in Sweden on its expedition to China. The preparations included a number of test sailings and a journey to Stockholm, where King Carl XVI Gustaf, who is the ships “protector,” and Queen Silvia, who is the ships “godmother,” came onboard for a trip through Stockholm harbour.

Götheborgis a replica of a Swedish ship that sank at the entrance of the Gothenburg harbour on September 12, 1745, as it was returning from its third voyage to China.

So far, the cost for the project is estimated at some 26 million euros. The building of the ship involved considerable man-hours: The rigging alone took more than 100,000 hours.

The departure from Gothenburg was celebrated with music and entertainment, including gun salutes, and the ship and its crew were blessed in a prayer.

The first leg of the trip is from Gothenburg to Cadiz in Spain; the second leg is from Cadiz to Recife in Brazil, where the New Year will be celebrated. The expedition is expected to reach Guangzhou in southern China by mid July 2006 and will be back in Gothenburg in September 2007.

SKF is one of the official partners of Götheborg, and has contributed with a Multilog Condition Monitoring Unit system and an @ptitude industrial decision support system.