Last season, the canal company counted exactly 275 motor and sailing boats with the black, red and gold national colours on the stern. That is a new record. Compared to the previous year, the increase was three per cent.
A total of 2,500 leisure boats travelled the waterway between Mem on the Baltic Sea and Sjötorp on Lake Vättern, which leads to Gothenburg in connection with Lake Vänern and the Trollhätte Canal. 743 of these boats came from abroad.
This makes German crews the channel's second largest user group behind the Swedes, with a share of 37 per cent. This is followed by the Danes with a share of 22 per cent.
Since 2 October, the 190-kilometre-long waterway, which is a listed monument, has been on winter break and the gates of the 58 locks will remain closed for five months until next spring.
The winter is used to maintain the 200-year-old technology - construction began on 24 May 1810 and opened on 26 September 1832. One or two lock gates need to be repaired, for example. The wood required for this comes from the canal company's own forests. Pine trees had already been planted during the construction of the canal, which would later be used as building material.
Specifically, the canal company is building new gates for three locks this winter. The engineers are working according to the old construction plans. One wing of a lock gate alone weighs eight to ten tonnes.
The granite quay walls, which until a few years ago did not require any significant repairs, are now getting on in years. Maintenance work will be required in some places.
The canal is of no significance for commercial shipping. This was not much different even in the past. Originally intended as a shortcut for transport from the Baltic Sea to the Kattegat coast, the railway overtook the waterway just a few decades after the canal opened.
The Göta Canal is scheduled to reopen its gates for leisure shipping on 2 May 2012.
Pascal Schürmann
Editor YACHT
