STEADY AS SHE GOES
The foundation stone of I.M. Skaugen ASA was laid in 1916 when Isak Martinius Skaugen, Captain of the four-masted barque 'Alcides', established his company D/S-A/S Eikland. In so doing, he founded a company that was to grow with the times, play its part in history and become what it is today - a modern marine transportation service company, with its sights set confidently on the future but with its roots secured in a sound and successful past. Since those early days of the 'Alcides', the company has travelled far and explored different routes, whilst always charting its course to meet the changing needs of the times. Flexibility has been the anchor of Skaugen's success.

 

1916 - 1928: From Sail to Steam
Master of his own sailing ships since 1900, Captain Skaugen could see that the future belonged to steam-driven vessels and so the 'Alcides' was sold and replaced with a steam vessel of 2,040 DWT, christened the 'Eikland'. The money for this purchase was raised on the Christiania Stock Exchange and the first shareholder to invest in the company was Mr Olaf Eikland. To show his appreciation, Captain Skaugen named the company and its first vessel after him. The 'Eikland' was later joined by two more steam vessels and together they were employed in the North European tramp trade.

1929 - 1938: Diesel Power and the Tanker Trade
Looking to develop the company further, Captain Skaugen decided to venture into the transportation of oil and in 1929 signed a contract for the building of his first tanker, choosing the new diesel engine for power and propulsion. In the following years two more diesel-powered tankers were delivered. Thus steam in its turn gave way to a future based on diesel, and consequently Skaugen's steam vessels were sold.

1939 - 1945 World War II
At the outbreak of the hostilities in 1939, Captain Skaugen had a newly delivered cargo liner on charter to the British Government, in addition to his three oil tankers. In April 1940, when the Germans occupied Norway, the Skaugen fleet was placed under the control of the exiled Norwegian Government in the UK and became a valuable asset in the Allied war effort. Captain Skaugen lost all contact with his ships from this time until Norway was again a free country in 1945. Only two of the Skaugen vessels survived the war, the rest were torpedoed and sunk with great loss of life. The tanker, 'Alcides', was one of these and its fate is testimony to the brutality of war. Of its crew of 52 men, all but three perished, gunned down in their lifeboats in the Indian Ocean escaping the torpedoed ship. However the Captain and two officers were taken prisoner by the submarine that had sunk the ship and survived the horrors of the concentration camps to tell the tale of the 'Alcides' and her men.

1946 - 1949: Rebuilding - Challenges and Opportunities
Immediately after the war, the first order of business was replacing the lost tonnage and establishing new trade routes. Together with Sven Salen, the largest Swedish ship owner of the day, the Salen-Skaugen Line was established. This line offered regular services between the US West Coast and ports in the Far East, combining general cargo and passengers. The tonnage that survived the war was augmented by newly acquired ships bought in the USA. Another addition to this Trans Pacific line was the unfinished new building, 'Ostmark'. Discovered in Kiel in 1947 and subsequently purchased through the British Ministry of Transport, she was completed and renamed 'Skaugum'. However, after Mao Zedong led the communists to power in China in 1949, the ports so essential for the success of this venture were closed and the partnership decided to withdraw and develop opportunities elsewhere.

1950 - 1959: Refugees, Troops, Pilgrims and Passengers
World War II left in its wake hundreds of thousands of refugees. Designated 'displaced persons' and collected in camps all over Europe, the relocation of these unfortunate individuals needed to be accomplished speedily. The 'International Refugee Organisation' was given the mandate to relocate them and the USA, Australia and Canada were all willing to receive them. Appropriate vessels were therefore required for this mass transportation project and the 'Skaugum' proved to be a particularly well-suited candidate. Converted in Kiel in 1949, she was fitted out for 1,800 refugees and 200 crew. With a maximum speed of 22 knots, 'Skaugum' was an obvious choice for the long voyages to Australia. Joined in 1950 by the new 'Skaubryn', a total of 170,000 refugees were carried to Australia by I.M. Skaugen over some five years. Subsequently, both these people carriers were involved in transporting troops to Korea, repatriating Dutch citizens in the wake of Indonesian independence and carrying troops from France and North Africa to Vietnam. 'Skaugum' ended her career carrying pilgrims to Mecca for the Haj. 'Skaubryn' was upgraded to first-class passenger standard for the launch of the Skaugen Line's Australian route.

1960 - 1988: DIVERSIFICATION AND INNOVATION

1968 - 1988: Cruising - A Brand New Concept
Building on its experience and expertise in operating passenger ships, Skaugen now saw new opportunities in a specialised cruise concept. Shipboard vacations in hotels with propellers: custom-built ships, scheduled ports, clockwork regularity, maximum efficiency and economy of scale. Thus, together with two other Norwegian owners, Gotaas-Larsen and Anders Wilhelmsen, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line was founded. Later, in the 1980s, in co-operation with J. Lauritzen of Denmark, Pearl Cruises was formed to meet the growing demand for more adventurous cruising to the newly re-opened China.


1960 - 1970: New Cargoes, New Routes, New Specialisations
In the early 1960s, the company commissioned a fleet of four new bulk carriers to serve large freight contracts to shallow water ports in Argentina. Consequently, ship-to-ship transfer was required and Skaugen made its first foray into large scale transfers at sea. Skaugen also pioneered the bulk shipment of cement, developing the self-unloading equipment required. Skaugen was one of the founders of the Norwegian Bulk Carrier pool - NBC, and the fleet developed from 14,000 to 100,000 DWT vessels over a period of eight years. In addition, a specialised lumber carrier and five new product tankers were added to the fleet.




1971 - 1980: Offshore Oil, Ro-Ro, and Car Carriers
With the increase of off-shore oil and gas activity in the 1970s, Skaugen Offshore and Skaugen Drilling were established. A drilling rig and four state-of-the-art supply vessels to serve it were ordered. Exploration in the Canadian oil fields off the coast of Labrador and later the Sakhalin fields of the Soviet Far East were the main areas of operations. During the same period, long-term contracts with Ford were signed and thus car decks were built into a number of the bulk carriers. Viking Car Carriers was formed - a collaboration between Skaugen, C.T. Gogstad - another Norwegian owner, and Dominion Steamship Company of New York. In 1974 the owned tonnage was released for other trades and replaced by chartered vessels. Viking Car Carriers operated successfully well into the next decade. New vessel designs for 'roll on roll off' cargoes were emerging and in close association with the Seaboard Company of Canada, who employed Skaugen's former lumber carrier, three new ro-ro vessels were ordered. Fitted for both packaged lumber and cars, they were the biggest of their kind ever built.

1981 - 1988: Liquid Petroleum Gas and Other Activities
Norwegian Gas Carriers - NGC (now Norgas) - was established in 1982 as the chartering and marketing entity for a co-operative pool of 20 LPG carriers, belonging to five separate owners. I.M. Skaugen gradually became the largest shareholder and after merging with two of the most influential of these five, became an owner and operator of liquid petroleum gas carriers. Together with Norwegian ship owner, Anders Jahre, Jahre Skaugen Carriers was established to provide bulk carrier tonnage to service the long-term shipment of iron ore from Brazil to Japan contracted by the Norwegian bulk carrier pool - NBC. In addition, at this time, Ford Motors expressed interest once again in doing business with Skaugen and a new design concept of vessel was built, the 'Pure Car Carrier'.

1988 - 2000: REFOCUSING FOR FUTURE GROWTH

1988 - 1991: Acquisitions and Mergers
Skaugen sold its interest in the Royal Carribean Cruise Line in 1988 and acquired the conglomerate, Kosmos. The main shipping activities of this famous old whaling company were retained and its numerous other businesses sold off. A new I.M.Skaugen (IMS) was registered on the Oslo Stock Exchange in 1990 after a merger of the privately-owned Skaugen family business, the publicly-held Laboremus, founded in 1910 and Kosmos Shipping, founded in 1912. At the same time, the Kosmos shuttle tanker operation based in Texas was spun-off, made public and registered as Skaugen PetroTrans (SPT). The composition of the IMS fleet was four VLCCs, 23 LPG carriers, 10 product tankers and 20 bulk carriers, half of which were owned, and half chartered. The SPT fleet comprised 11 shuttle tankers, six workboats and two chemical tankers.

1991 - 1995: The Turnaround Process
Due to substantial weaknesses in the merged companies, evident in high operational costs and high acquisition costs of the assets, I.M. Skaugen shifted its focus from being a diversified investment company to becoming a true marine service transportation company, with ship-to-ship transfer of oil cargoes and gas transportation as its core activities and SPT (Skaugen Petro Trans) and NGC (now Norgas) as its two main brand names.

1996 - 2000: New Horizons
In 1996, IMS entered into the first Sino-foreign joint shipping venture in China with the Hubei Tianfa Group to transport liquid petroleum gas on the Yangtze River. To secure a stable supply of competent, affordable manpower, IMS established its own training and recruiting centres as joint ventures with maritime universities in St. Petersburg, Russia and Wuhan, China. SPT sold its owned shuttle tanker fleet in 1996, preferring to operate its ship-to-ship transfer business with chartered tonnage. In its first 20-year history, SPT transferred over four billion barrels of crude oil and received a number of prestigious awards for its safety and environmental efforts.

Building for a New Era
IMS joined forces with GATX Capital of San Francisco to commission six new ethylene carriers, with options for four more, from the Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard in Shanghai. Other plans for expansion within the core business activities of the company are on the drawing board, in the expectation of new growth in the years ahead. Epilogue to the Century Captain Isak Martinius Skaugen passed away in 1962 at the age of 87. His grandson, Morits Skaugen is the current President and CEO of I.M. Skaugen ASA and ensures the continued contribution of the family to the leadership of the business, as did his father before him, in the intervening generation.

Epilogue to the century
Captain Isak Martinius Skaugen passed away in 1962 at the age of 87. His grandson, Morits skaugen is the current President and CEO of I.M. Skaugen ASA and ensures the continued contribution of the family to the leadership of the business, as did his father before him, in the intervening generation.

Into the New Millennium

2001 – 2003: Alliances and Fleet Expansion
After a sound start to the decade, a continued tight focus on costs and sound management helped to propel Norgas to a particularly strong performance during this period. SPT performed well in the opening years of the new millennium and as one of the largest transporters of US crude oil imports the company handled on average over 1.1 million barrels per day or about 14 per cent of the US seaborne crude oil imports.

Norgas took delivery of six new vessels. By the end of 2003, the Norgas fleet consisted of 19 gas carriers and had been reduced to an average age of 16 years. Through Norgas, I.M. Skaugen forms 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.

I.M. Skaugen joined forces with Teekay Shipping Corporation to jointly operate and expand its lightering business allowing Teekay to take a 50 per cent stake in SPT. There 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 leadership positions.

Six new, purpose designed and built Aframax tankers, were ordered for delivery to SPT on a long term bareboat charter and commencing during 2007.

2004 – 2006: Partnerships and fleet renewals continue

The Group has a comprehensive programme in place to build up to 16 gas carriers to augment the Norgas fleet. The first of these was delivered in 2007 and further vessels will be delivered over the following years, giving the company a solid foundation for future growth in the energy and petrochemical sectors.

I.M. Skaugen created a new division in 2006, Skaugen Marine Construction (SMC). Through SMC we have streamlined our marine construction activity in China. SMC is taking primary responsibility for the new build activities by acting as project leader, supported by our two Chinese joint venture (JV) partners. The first of these JVs is with Taizhou Wuzhou Shipbuilding Co Ltd. The second JV is with Shenghui Gas & Chemical Systems, which special¬izes in structured cryogenic steel tanks used in the marine and petrochemical industry.

In 2006, SPT through the purchase of a UK-based lightering company expanded into Europe, Russia and West Africa markets. In addition, SPT performed the world’s first commercial lightering operation of LNG.

As the MNGC pool came to an end in 2006, Nor¬gas formed a significant new alliance - under the name Eitzen Norgas Gas Carriers (ENGC) - with the Camillo Eitzen Group. Norgas is, through the ENGC pool, the world’s largest marine transporter of ethylene, continuously striving to provide the best possible service to our customers.

The Journey Continues:

IMS – Innovative Marine Solutions
With the delivery in 2007 of the first of a number of new vessels for both the Norgas and SPT sides of its business, the future for I.M. Skaugen is looking particularly bright. The company’s activities in China – including new builds - are expanding rapidly and are providing the basis for sound global development.