Fred. Olsen Lines
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| Private | |
| Industry | Holding company |
| Founded | 1848 |
| Headquarters | Oslo, Norway |
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Key people
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Anette S. Olsen (CEO) |
| Website | www |
Fred. Olsen & Co. is a shipping company based in Oslo, Norway. The company was founded by Petter Olsen in 1848. Today it is the holding company that controls the Olsen family's interest through Bonheur and Ganger Rolf.
The company was founded by Petter Olsen (1821-1899) in 1848 and, by his death, the company had 16 ships with offices in Hvitsten. Petter's son Thomas Fredrik "Fred" Olsen (1857-1933) or Fred. Olsen, whom the company is named after, took the company from a small business with a few boats into a powerful multinational shipping and shipbuilding business. He had a vision of providing high-quality service on a network of lines, at first domestically and, afterwards, internationally. To do this required steamships, of which the first was acquired in 1897. By 1914, the first motor ship was put in use on the South America line. During World War I 23 of the company's 44 ships sank.
After the first Fred. Olsen's death, his sons Rudolf Olsen and Thomas Fredrik Olsen took over the company. During their leadership, the company expanded, even entering the aviation business with its own airline Fred. Olsen Flyselskap in addition to later partial ownerships of Det Norske Luftfartselskap, Scandinavian Airlines System, Widerøe, and Sterling Airlines. During World War II, the company's ships were in Allied service, though 28 were lost – about half the fleet. Rudolf died in 1951 and Thomas suffered ill health from 1955, eventually dying in 1969.
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Wikipedia