Gothenburg has functioned as one of Sweden’s primary ports and industrial centers for centuries. In recent decades, however, some companies that were originally located closer to the city center have closed or moved, and the areas have been redeveloped, sometimes incorporating the older industrial buildings and other structures into the newly developed neighborhoods. One of the most notable examples of this is Eriksbergskranen (or Eriksbergs Crane), a giant gantry crane that looms over a neighborhood on the north side of the Göta river, downstream from the city center.
The modern-day neighborhood of Eriksberg was originally the site of a shipbuilding company named Eriksbergs Mekaniska Verkstads, which was established in 1850. This company grew to become one of the largest shipbuilding companies in Sweden. Despite increased international competition in the 1960s, the company invested in obtaining an 80-meter-tall gantry crane, which was erected at the site in 1969. However, Eriksbergs Mekaniska Verkstads would continue to have difficulty staying competitive with shipbuilders in other countries, and in 1979, the company would close down.
Although many of the shipbuilding company’s buildings and other structures were dismantled or demolished, Eriksbergskranen remained in place. For a while, the crane was used as a viewing platform and a bungee jumping location. Eventually, the area was redeveloped as a residential neighborhood, and the dock underneath the crane was converted into a marina. The gantry crane itself was given legal protection in 2012, and it is now regarded as the key defining landmark of the neighborhood that has grown around it as well as the largest of the gantry cranes left from Sweden’s shipbuilding past.
