Elephant delivered to the Prince of Monaco on board the world’s largest ocean-going wooden sailing ship

Photo: The Perfect World Foundation

The elephant sculpture named “Oceans of Hope” was presented to Prince Albert II of Monaco, together with The Perfect World Foundation’s annual honorary award, during an award-gala in Gothenburg in April 2022. It has since been on display in Gothenburg, but will now be delivered to Monaco – in a most spectacular way.

The sculpture is designed with inspiration from animals that depend on our oceans. Its purpose is to draw attention to how ghost nets are killing our oceans.

“ The elephant sculpture alludes to the saying "the elephant in the room" and its purpose is to make more people aware of the problems in our oceans. Every year, 640,000 tonnes of ghost nets end up in the world's oceans, killing millions of marine animals and fish every year”, says Ragnhild Jacobsson, CEO, and co-founder of The Perfect World Foundation.

Götheborg changed its route to sail to Monaco, adding it as the 11^th stopover on the Asia Expedition 2022/2023.  

“ The well-being of our oceans is an issue close to our hearts, and therefore we didn’t hesitate to change our route to support and create awareness around this very important topic”, said Torben Hildemar, Captain on the Götheborg. “Ghost nets are a big problem that all of us who work out on the oceans have encountered On the Götheborg, we always have someone on lookout at the bow, to be able to spot and avoid ghost nets and illegal fish nets. We encountered illegal fishing nets several times on our voyage back from Asia in 2007.”

Asia Expedition 2022/2023

Götheborg departed from Gothenburg 8 June 2022, and will arrive in Shanghai in September 2023. During the expedition, the ship is sailing in the Baltic Sea and Northern Europe before continuing to the Mediterranean. During winter 2022/2023 the ship will remain in the Mediterranean. It will continue to Asia in spring 2023. The mission for the Asia Expedition is to promote trade relations and use the ship as a unique platform for businesses and partners, to create business opportunities. 

Greencarrier and Partners

In 2019 the Swedish logistics company Greencarrier acquired SOIC Ship Management, that operates the ship Götheborg, and thereby secured financing of the expedition to Asia. Spring 2020 Greencarrier also acquired the ship. Behind the decision lies a long-term interest in and commitment to the ship Götheborg, and the conviction that the ship is built to sail and therefore should do that.

Partners to the expedition are also EKN (The Swedish Export Credit Agency) and Vinnova (Sweden’s innovation agency), along with a great number of suppliers that support the expedition in different ways.

Short facts: The ship Götheborg – history

The Götheborg is a full-sized replica of an 18th century ship, that was owned by the Swedish East India Company, and that ran aground and sank outside of Gothenburg in 1745. In 1984 marine excavation of the original ship Götheborg was initiated and in 1995 the building of a new Götheborg was started. Eight years later, in 2003, the ship was launched, and between 2005-2007 the ship sailed the historical route to Asia and back. After that several expeditions around Europe were carried out, the latest one in 2015. In 2021 the ship sailed from Gothenburg to Stockholm and back.

About The Perfect World Foundation

The Perfect World Foundation was founded in early 2000 with the sole purpose to support and save animals and nature – biodiversity. The organisation’s focus ranges from supporting organisations and grassroots projects in the field and helping individual animals and species, to creating their own projects and supporting other organisations focusing on climate, poaching, wildlife trade, education, tree planting, ocean plastic cleanups, ghost nets etcetera. The Perfect World Foundation focus on finding and supporting solutions to the cause of the problems. They believe in the importance of joining forces with like-minded and other organisations to create the most possible impact.

During the years, The Perfect World Foundation has, on a yearly basis, awarded one special person The Perfect World Foundation Award, the conservationist of the year, to show gratitude for their achievements and to support and inspire them to keep up their valuable work. Among the awarded are Sir David Attenborough, Miss Greta Thunberg, Dr. Jane Goodall, Dr. Sylvia Earle, and the HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco.