Scandinavian American. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1945-1958, 1950-02-14
Introducing Scandinavia
Sweden
Under The Swedish Flag

A Sed-fdrlng nation since NIk-
ings' time, Sweden now has ship
ping lanes encircling the globe.
The Importance of Sweden's her
chant marine is shown by the fact
that 99et of the nations foreign
trade is carried on by sea; and
Swedish-flag vessels carry more
than 500 of her total foreign
shipping.
In 194s the Swedish merchant
navy was larger than ever before,
aggregating 2,O57,0OO gross tons.
Postwar building had overcome
war losses of about one-third of
the total prewar tonnage; an all
time shipbuilding high was reach
ed in 194s with $4,000 dead
weight ton deliveries from the
Swedish shipyards.
During the last ten years steam
ers have given way to Diesel lin
ers; by the end of 1913, 63.7fc Of
the total tonnage were motorships.
The trend has been towards spe-
cial ships = for iron ore, oil, and
fruit cargo.
Modern, fast vessels Of advanc-
ed design have been added to the
merchant fleet. The Johnson Lines
Seattle" series, spoken of as the
ships of tomorrow" were built by
kockum shipyard, Malmo; they
combine great speed and new con-
structional features, ia. electric
deck cranes and adjustable Ka-
MeVVa propeuers.
The MS 'Nimbus" and STRAIT
US, built by Gotaverken, Gothen-
burg. and owned by the Transat-
lantic Company, are among the
fastest on the South African
route
Passenger liner Stockholm" of
the Swedish American Line has,
though smaller than "Gr:psholm,"
reduced the travel time between
New York and Gothenburg.
A new phase in Sweden's post
war maritime enterprise are 6
ships of the Ocean ship" series,
five of them built by Eriksberg
shipyard, Gothenburg. They are
the beginning of an attempt 70
create a strong specialized fruit
tramping" fleet owned by the At
lantrafik Company.
Major Ports
GOTHENBURG contains Swe-
denis largest port, which handles
most Of the country's exports. The
bulk of the transoceanic shipping
lines have their headquarters in
this city. The port has over H.
600 meters 10000 ft) of quays,
166 cranes, and 10000 SIX. m. Il,
$4,000 SO. ft.) of warehouse stor-
age area Total arriving and de-
parting tonnage in foreign ship
ping was 1O,5O0,OOO net register
tons In 1913.
STOCKHOLM is the largest
import harbor. 1t has 1900 m.
$4,000 fl Of quays, 1853 cranes
and 10000 SO. m. C1,249,O0O so.
fl Of warehouse area. 1913: g.
7e1, 900 tons.
MALMO completes the picture
Of the three big ports. 1t has To-
600 m. $4,000 fl of quays, so
cranes, and 1900 so. m. 1885,
600 So fl. of warehouse area.
1913: S,180,000 tons.
With Scandinavian Banner
On the airways the Swedish flag
is not flown outside Sweden but
is replaced by the Viking dragon
and the shields Of the three Scan
dinavian nations jointly operating
the Scandinavian Airlines System
lSASJ. Routes within Sweden
are flown by the Swedish airlines,
ALB Aero-transport (ABA) under
its own symbol.
Thus. including the Swedish
ABA. the Danish Dbl, and the
Norwegian DNL, the Scandinavian
Airlines in 1949 operated a net
work Of some $4,000 miles with a
total of Y planes. 81 of which
were 4-engined.
Aerotransport in 1919 furnished
SAS with 81 aircraft. s Of them
DC-6's. Delivery was pending on
10 all-Swedish "Scandia" trans
ports.