“Bolivia”:
Successful pre-war design

	ILLUSTRATION: HÅKAN SJÖSTRÖM

Towards the close of the 1920s, Johnson Line began planning for a series of modern cargo liners. At that time Johnson Line operated liner services to the both coasts of South America, the Pacific coast of North America and to Central America.
The new vessels were to be considerably faster than the earlier liners in the fleet. They would complete four round voyages a year in the north Pacific trade, compared to three for the previous vessels. The voyage from Göteborg to Rio de Janeiro was reduced by some ten days.

Three types
Altogether there were three subtypes of ships to be built, totalling 21 units. They were delivered during the years 1935 to 1948.
The three batches mainly differed in deadweight and type of engine. Though there were some modifications, the basic design of this very successful type of liner remained unchanged.
The first group of vessels from the second half of the 1930s consisted of open shelterdeckers. Those constructed in the 1940s were closed shelterdeckers, enabling loading to a deeper draught.
With the exception of the last group of four vessels which were all built at Kockums in Malmö, the series was built by Götaverken in Göteborg. “Bolivia” was part of the second batch of vessels, where the deadweight had been increased from 7,000 to 7,700 tonnes. The service speed was raised from 15 to 17 knots due to more powerful main engines.
“Bolivia” had dual six-cylinder two-stroke Götaverken engines of the new Olsson type, developing 8,800 hp.
During the construction stage at Götaverken, “Bolivia” suffered extensive fire damage through burning oil from another vessel. She was delivered in 1946 and sailed for Johnson Line until 1971, when she was sold to Panama. The liner was broken up in 1979.

Passenger capacity
The vessels also had large refrigerated holds for carrying fruit and frozen food. They were equipped with booms for cargo handling, most of which had a lifting capacity of 5 tonnes.
The vessels also had a 10- and a 20-tonne heavy lift boom.
In those days, the crews were large and the vessels had accommodation for 45 crew members. “Bolivia” and the other vessels in the second and third batch had sufficient capacity to carry up to 24 passengers.

//Pär-Henrik Sjöström

Source:
Thorsten Rinman, The Johnson Line 1890–1990

Back to SSG 16, 5 September