Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Wilh. Wilhelmsen
2 3
01. Prologue
02. Shipbroker and shipowner
03. From sail to steam
04. Freight contracts and liner trades
05. “For Speed & Service”
06. World War II and the post war years
07. Flexibility and joint operations
08. WW and the offshore industry
09. Rough weather and restructuring
10. Shipping services – Barber and Barwil
11. The leading Ro-Ro and Car Carrier
12. Epilogue
4 5
Prologue
Through fourteen decades, Wilh. Wilhelmsen
– recognised world-wide by its initials WW –
has influenced and reflected Norwegian
shipping and seafaring in all its aspects –
local, national and global.
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Shipbroker
and shipowner
Morten Wilhelm Wilhelmsen (22) from Tønsberg
established the firm in 1861. Mathilde, acquired
in 1865, was the first in what became
Tønsberg’s largest fleet of sailing ships.
steam
While Norwegian shipowners still
put their stakes on sailing ships,
Halfdan Wilhelmsen, eldest son of
the founder, was a pioneer in the
transition from sail to steam.
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Norway’s position as a major maritime nation had
been based on wind power. Most shipowners
and investors were reluctant to steamships, but
steadily lower profits made it clear that the age of
the windjammer was inevitably reaching its end.
“One person who saw
the writing on the wall
One person who saw the writing on the wall and
and that radical steps
that radical steps must be taken was Morten
must be taken was
Wilhelm Wilhelmsen’s eldest son, Halfdan. He
Morten Wilhelm
joined the firm in 1886 after professional training
Wilhelmsen’s eldest
abroad. At first his arguments for steamships fell
son, Halfdan.”
on deaf ears among conservative Tønsberg ship
owners, including his father, with little or no
confidence in capital-intensive steamers.
Halfdan Wilhelmsen
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Freight Contracts
and Liner Trades
A full partner in the firm from 1890, Halfdan
Wilhelmsen soon proved his exceptional skills
as a shipping man. He laid the basis for WW’s
core business – liner trades.
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Halfdan Wilhelmsen had a talent for obtaining large Morten Wilhelm Wilhelmsen
freight contracts which employed ships over long passed away in 1910.
periods. Based on trading between fixed ports, such His younger son, Captain
contracts had much in common with regular liner Wilhelm Wilhelmsen, had
services, a typical feature of contemporary steamship joined his father and
operation. Norway’s foreign trade expanded greatly elder brother as a partner
in the first decade of the 20th century, and WW was in 1904, after a professional
active in establishing a network of liner services which career at sea.
linked Norway with all overseas continents, partly
together with other Scandinavian shipping companies.
A corner stone in what became WW’s core business
was the opening of NAAL (The Norwegian Africa and
Australia Line) in 1911.
Between the wars, WW’s liner network was further In 1917 Wilh. Wilhelmsen’s head office was moved to
expanded, into international cross-trade, based on a Oslo, although the ships were still registered in Tøns-
large fleet of new-built motor ships. The company’s berg. After Halfdan Wilhelmsen´s death in 1923 after a
slogan “For Speed & Service” became a world-wide brief illness, his son-in-law Niels Werring joined the firm
household term. as partner in 1930, followed by Tom Wilhelmsen, Cap-
tain Wilhelmsen’s son in 1938. As senior partner in the
Australian wool was an important commodity on the firm Captain Wilhelmsen vigorously pursued a strategy
European market, and speedy transportation was of bringing WW in the forefront among the world’s liner
a great advantage in the prestigious wool trade. To operators, at the expense of tramp and tanker trades.
maintain a competitive edge in the “wool race”,
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The M/V Taronga
“Wilhelmsen intro-
duced a new series of
fast cargo liners from
1930 onwards, with
service speeds
increased from 11 to
16 knots.”
22 23
Loading of cotton to one of Wilhelmsen´s liners Men hauling cargo
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World War II and the
post-war years
52 seamen and nearly half of the WW fleet,
were lost during World War II. A vigorous
rebuilding program was set in motion immedi-
ately after the war.
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Flexibility
and joint
operations
When WW celebrated its
centenary in 1961,
a transformation began from
break-bulk to Ro-Ro and
container transportation in
liner trade.
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During the 1960s and 1970s, WW’s liner strategy Tom Wilhelmsen and Niels Werring
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“WW’s deliberate
future liner strategy
was based on a
flexible system with
large Ro-Ro vessels
equipped with angled
stern ramps, enabling
them to load and
discharge in almost
any port.”
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WW and the
offshore industry
When oil was discovered in the North
Sea around 1970, WW entered upon a
period of great activity in the offshore
sector, including tender services as well
as drilling operation.
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Tender Trout, delivered to a newly-established subsidiary
Wilhelmsen Offshore Services (WOS), heralded a fleet of no
less than thirty support vessels, all with the prefix Tender, for
the oil industry between 1972 and 1986, making WOS among
the world’s leading offshore support operators. The offshore
commitment was carried even further in 1975, when Treasure
Hunter, WW’s first oil drilling rig, was delivered, followed by
Treasure Seeker and Treasure Finder in the next two years.
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Rough weather
“Storm warning for Wilhelmsen”
- press cut from 1986
and restructuring
WW did not escape the effects of the ship-
ping crisis in the 1970s and 1980s. With falling
oil prices in 1986, the offshore sector changed
from a lifebuoy to a millstone. Thanks to radical
steps the company was saved from ruin.
40 41
After three traumatic years, the clouds began to
lift with new optimism, new activities and new
energy. Then, on 8 September 1989, disaster
struck. 50 colleagues lost their lives in a terrible air
crash near Denmark, en route to Hamburg for a
naming ceremony – an everlasting tragedy in the
WW history.
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Shipping services -
Barber
and Barwil
The international shipping crisis from
the mid-1970s called for cost reductions
through re-flagging of ships and
recruitment of seamen from countries with
lower wage levels. Wilhelmsen Maritime
Services is a world leader in ship manage-
ment and agency services.
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Barber Ship Management, established in 1975, gradually
extended its activities to include a large fleet for several
owners under many flags, manned by Indian officers and Fili-
pino sailors. At the end of 2004, Barber had bases in Kuala
Lumpur, Dubai, Mumbai, Oslo and New Orleans, operating
more than 250 ships with a shipboard personnel of around
6,500. Maritime know-how is a keyword in WW´s strategy.
The same applies to the truly global network of more than
270 offices in approx. 70 different countries.
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The leading Ro-Ro
- and car carrier
Since 1970s, the Ro-Ro concept has gradually be- Already in the top league through NOSAC, WW extended
come the predominant factor in WW’s liner opera- the successful Ro-Ro/car transportation strategy still further
tions, having developed into today’s 5th generation in 1999, when Wilhelmsen Lines and Wallenius Lines (OW)
Ro-Ro ships, operated by Wallenius Wilhelmsen Lines. established a joint operating company, Wallenius Wilhelm-
sen Lines, with a total fleet of 60 ships serving a global liner
Introduced in 1972 with Tricolor and her sisters in ScanAustral, a network. In 2002 WW and OW acquired an 80 % ownership
pool composed of WW and two other Scandinavian operators, in the Korean Hyundai’s car transport division. Renamed EU-
the use of large Ro-Ro ships equipped with an angled stern ramp KOR Car Carriers, this company operates approx. 85 ships.
represented a new concept in liner operation between Europe and In addition, American Roll-On Roll-Off Carriers (jointly owned
Australia. Focusing on cargoes on wheels and other freight units by OW and WW) operates a number of vessels. Control-
less suited for containers, the Ro-Ro concept was extended to ling a fleet of more than 150 ships and with a steadily grow-
car transportation through Norwegian Specialised Auto Carriers ing logistics, WW and its Swedish partner is a world leader
(NOSAC), a joint operation with the Norwegian America Line (NAL) in Ro-Ro cargo transportation. An extensive newbuilding
which WW acquired outright in 1995. programme is underway securing the companies’ need for
future tonnage capacity.
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“Already in the top league
through NOSAC, WW extended
the successful Ro-Ro/car
transportation strategy still
further in 1999”
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Our Vision
The WW Group will be a leading, global
provider of maritime services.
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For more information: Contact WW Corporate Communications,
ww-group@ww-group.com