A brief history from the beginning

1916-1929
Isak Martinius Skaugen, Captain of the four-masted barque, Alcides, founded his company D/S-A/S Eikland.

Alcides was later sold and replaced by the steam ship, Eikland, which together with two more steam ships was employed in the North European tramp trade.

1929-1945
Steam later gave way to diesel and by the outbreak of World War II, Captain Skaugen had three diesel-powered oil tankers and a cargo liner. In 1940, the fleet was requisitioned by the exiled Norwegian Government for the duration of the war.

1949-1958
World War II left in its wake hundreds of thousands of refugees, who were to be relocated to the USA, Canada and Australia. Skaugum was therefore converted and fitted out to carry 1,800 refugees and 200 crew. Joined in 1950 by Skaubryn, a total of 170,000 refugees were carried to Australia by I.M. Skaugen in five years.

1960-1988
In the 1960s the company developed new routes, trades and specialisations, making its first foray into ship-to-ship transfers, pioneering the bulk shipment of cement and co-founding the Norwegian Bulk Carrier pool. In the late 1960s, the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line was started in partnership with Gotaas Larsen and Anders Wilhelmsen and in the 1980s, Pearl Cruises was also started together with J. Lauritzen.

1972-1990
With the increase of offshore oil and gas activity in the 1970s, I.M. Skaugen branched into the oil industry with a drilling rig and four supply vessels. Its operations were mainly off the Canadian Labrador coast and later the Sakhalin fields in the Soviet Far East.

At the same time, Skaugen collaborated with three other firms to form Viking Car Carriers, which operated successfully into the 1980s. Norwegian Gas Carriers (now Norgas) was established in 1982 as the chartering and marketing entity for a pool of 20 LPG carriers, belonging to five owners. I.M. Skaugen gradually became the largest shareholder and after a series of mergers became an owner and operator of LPG carriers.

I.M. Skaugen ASA 1990-2003

1990 A new beginning
In late 1990 the ‘new’ I.M. Skaugen was established and listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange after a merger of the Skaugen privately-owned shipping business with the publicly-held business of Laboremus (established in 1910) and Kosmos Shipping AS (established in 1912). Laboremus owned and operated mostly gas and product carriers while Kosmos had tankers and bulkers.

1991-1995 The turnaround
The focus of I.M. Skaugen now shifted from being a diversified investment company in marine assets to becoming a marine transportation service company.

The high cost of operations, the lack of quality in ship operations and the high acquisition cost of marine assets in the late 80s created the need for a complete restructuring to reduce the debt burden, in addition to a complete managerial overhaul.

Due to a strategic desire to focus on customer relations, the company retained the lightering (SPT) and the gas transportation assets (Norgas) as a base for its core business activities. The aim was to build SPT and Norgas (then NGC) into strong brand names, focused on safety as well as low-cost operations, and to secure a satisfied customer base.

1995 New Horizons
I.M. Skaugen turned its sights towards Asia in the second half of the 1990s. The company set up marketing offices for Norgas in Singapore and Houston, and established itself in China. The major part of the Norgas fleet was shifted to Asia. In 1996, I.M. Skaugen entered into the first Sino-foreign joint shipping venture in China with the Hubei Tianfa Group to transport LPG on the Yangtze River.

SPT sold its own shuttle tanker fleet in 1996, preferring to operate its ship-to-ship transfer business with chartered tonnage. In its 22-year history, SPT has transferred over five billion barrels of crude oil and has received a number of prestigious awards for its safety and environmental efforts.

1998-1999 Training for the future
The company continued to focus on achieving the lowest operational costs while offering the best of services. To secure a stable supply of competent, affordable manning, I.M. Skaugen established its own training and recruiting centres as joint ventures with maritime universities in Wuhan, China and St. Petersburg, Russia.

2000 Building for the future
I.M. Skaugen joined forces with GATX Capital of San Francisco to commission six new, specially designed ethylene carriers to be built at Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard in Shanghai, China.

2003 Alliances and partners for growth
I.M. Skaugen joined forces with Teekay Shipping Corporation to jointly operate and expand its ship-to-ship transfer business allowing Teekay to take a 50 percent stake in Skaugen’s wholly owned business unit, SPT.
Through Norgas, I.M. Skaugen formed a revenue sharing gas carrier pool with A.P. Møller-Mærsk, named MNGC. This development has long been sought after to benefit the performance of the Norgas fleet of gas carriers.
These two alliances have enabled I.M. Skaugen to enhance each of its business units into a ‘no 1 position’ in the world as well as strengthen its market-leader positions.

In December 2003, SPT signed a 10-year bareboat charter for six new Aframax tankers. These agreements will commence during the course of 2007 as the new builds are delivered from the shipyard.