Rederi AB Slite

Rederi AB Slite was a Swedish shipping company, founded in 1947. The company was one of the three founding companies of Viking Line. Rederi AB Slite went bankrupt in 1993.

Rederi AB Slite was founded by Carl Bertil Myrsten together with his siblings Inga Gattberg, Sven Myrsten and Lars Myrsten in 1947. The oldest brother Robert Myrsten had his own shipping company Rederi AB Robert Myrsten and was not part of Rederi AB Slite. The Myrsten family, from Slite on the island of Gotland, had been in the shipping business since 1867, when Johan Niclas Myrsten founded the dynasty.

In mid-1950s two newbuilt cargo ships, MS Slite and MS Boge were delivered to Slite. In 1959 and 1961 respectively they were rebuilt to be able to load cars and take passengers. These ships were then put on a route between Simpnäs north of and Mariehamn on Åland. In 1964 the company's first purpose built ferry MS Apollo was delivered. In the early 1960s there was a heavy competition from several companies on the route Sweden - Åland. This led to a cooperation between Slite and Rederi Ab Vikinglinjen, which later became a part of Rederi Ab Sally.

In 1966 the marketing company Viking Line was founded and by now Ålandsfärjan Ab, later SF Line, had joined the cooperation. Viking Line initially had three ships, Ålandsfärjan Ab's SS Ålandsfärjan, Vikinglinjen's SS Viking and Slite's Apollo. Since the name of the marketing company came from one of the other founding companies, Carl Bertil Myrsten demanded that the colour of Viking Line's ships would originate from his company. The discussion regarding colour ended when Inga Gattberg took her favourite lip stick and made a mark on the contract with the words “This is the colour we are going to use”. All Viking Line's ships were therefore painted in Apollo's original red colour that now is so characteristic for Viking Line.

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