Götaverken
The Swedish remodeling and repair yard Götaverken Cityvarvet AB in Gothenburg goes back to a predecessor company of 1841. During the period of its existence, created numerous different types of vessels and marine engines. Except in the design of large series ships, the company made a name for itself in the special shipbuilding.
History
Founded by Alexander Keiller
The roots go back to the shipyard in 1841 by Scottish businessman Alexander Keiller as Keillers Werkstad i Göteborg founded operation. After the company had initially worked for several years as a general metal company (including cast-iron windows were manufactured under the trademark Ferro), the experiences were implemented in iron shipbuilding and left in 1847 the first ship to water. After a bankruptcy Keillers in 1867, the company was converted into a public limited company and changed its name since then under the name Göteborgs Mekaniska Verkstads AB. 1906 one changed the name after a change of majority in Gothenburg's Nya Verkstads AB and enlarged the operation. Another ten years later, initially followed by the start of production of diesel engines under license from the Danish manufacturer Burmeister & Wain and the next change to the most famous names, AB Götaverken. The company grew in the following decades and counted in the 1930s the most productive shipbuilding facilities worldwide. From 1939 self-developed diesel engines were offered under the term Götaverken engine.
Post-war history
The decades after the Second World War were marked by further growth and from 1950 by the construction of a completely new yard in Arendal. The newly built and at the time highly modern plant was completed in the first half of the 1960s and focused mainly on the series production of large shipping units, such as tankers and bulk carriers. The shipbuilding on the old operation ended after the delivery of the bulk carrier Greta Thulin in 1968.
1971 took over the shipping company Salen the shipbuilding enterprises. Due to the oil crisis of 1973 Salen, however, was in 1974 forced the peoples are the shipping company belonging Finnboda AB in the Götaverken to abandon the self- development of diesel engines ( under license from Burmeister & Wain were to 1990 continued ) and the production of windows to give up. 1976 Götaverken group was broken down into individual companies. The engine went to the Svenska Bearing AB and the ship was taken over in 1977 with the subsidiary Götaverken Finnboda AB Svenska Varv by the state. After the demand of the previously produced tanker and bulker was greatly diminished, an attempt was made to survive the construction of more complex types of ships, such as ferries, icebreakers or reefer vessels. After delivery of the icebreaker Oden in 1989, the ship was stopped and the Arendal shipyard closed. In 1993, the city remaining shipyard ( Cityvarvet ) after a prolonged dry spell in bankruptcy, but could be reopened with a considerably smaller workforce of 70 men. Over the years the number of employees rose to 140 since 2000, the company is part of the Damen Shipyards Group and is operated as a ship repair yard with several of their floating docks.
The outsourced engines went into liquidation on 24 March 2003, the operating facilities in Trollhättan were later on used by Wärtsilä.