Gothenburg - A city with proud maritime traditions

The four-masted steel barque Viking, built in 1906 by Burmeister & Wein in  Copenhagen,  is said to be  the biggest sailing ship ever built in Scandinavia. Today she is moored in the Gothenburg guest harbor as hotel "Barken Viking".    

Gothenburg (Göteborg in Swedish), Sweden´s second largest city, founded in 1621 by King Gustav II Adolf with thee aim of making it Sweden´s gatewary to the west, has always been a maritime center.

Often there are more than two feathers on the hat of Gothenburg´s founder,  King  Gustav  II  Adolf.

Until fairly recenty the city was the center of the Swedish ship-building industry, but most dry docks have had to close down due to competition from foreign shipyards. 
Gothenburg´s old inner harbour area has now changed from shipbuilding to high technology, education and interesting tourist facilities. 

A steamer being loaded in the port of Gothenburg in 1912.
 

Maritiman, "the world´s biggest floating museum of ships" includes boats of all sizes. Here are a couple of them:

The Lightship No. 29 FLADEN, built in 1915, was originally stationed in the  Baltic Sea at Hävringe,  and  later at the  Öland bank.  In 1966 it moved to the Fladen bank, where it was located until retirement in 1969.

The M/S Fryken was built in Ålborg (Denmark) in 1938.  It  is a typical  "coaster",  a type of  freighter  which was very popular during the the decades after the World War II.

The tug ESAB IV, build in 1921, is the eldes all-welded boat  boat in the world. She has an engine of 210 hp, a lenght of 15,8 meters and a beam 4,0 meters.

The St.Erik, built in Gothenburg as a coastal passenger steamer in 1881, would very well fit into the collection of musem ships, but it is still in commercial use taking tourists to the archipelago:

The Port of Gothenburg is the largest port in Scandinavia, with over 11,000 vessel calls each year. Almost 30 per cent of Swedish foreign trade passes through the port.

The Dutch ro-ro ship Spaarneborg in the Gothenburg harbour

Älvsnabben 3 is one of the passenger ferries connecting different locations  in the Gothenburg  harbour  area.

The French Navy´s patrol vessel Flamant in the Gothenburg harbour.  The Flamant class  patrol boats  are  used for fishery monitoring, search and rescue, and patrolling France's Exclusive Economic Zone.

PS

If you need other than waterway transportation in Gothenburg, the blue street cars offer an excellent service:

There is even a nice museum car for visitors