SSG No 10 - Shipgaz

DAG BAKKA JR
Nordic American Tanker Shipping, Bermuda-based but operating from Sandefjord, has built a fleet
of suezmax tankers, like the Nordic Voyager.
Prevailing pragmatism
After a decade of frustration over
political conditions at home, the
shipping industry seems at last to
have regained ambition, fuelled by profit
and opportunity. Despite a nagging concern
over being too late in the business
cycle, Norwegian shipowners have on the
whole put out their necks, indeed, with
investment in 2006 exceeding all historical
precedence.
NORWAY
Ten years after the 1996 shipping whitebook,
which promised a new deal for the
industry, political wrangling by every government
crushed the hope for stable and
competitive conditions. Even though the
present “red-green” government has gone a
long way in outlining a stable regime, the
Norwegian fortune tax will remain as a specific
burden on private ownership and
large family holdings.
This decade of wrangling, as witnessed
by a 25 per cent decline in the Norwegian
fleet at a time when other maritime
nations have been growing vigorously, has
left a pragmatic attitude throughout the
SHIPPING AND SHIP MANAGEMENT
shipping industry: A desire to remain in
Norway for as long as possible, but also to
take advantage of any favorable arrangement
offered in Cyprus, Singapore or elsewhere.
Norwegian shipping investment
Excl. drilling rigs. Billion USD ■ New orders ■ Secondhand purchases
20
15
10
5
0
1995
1996
1997
SCANDINAVIAN SHIPPING GAZETTE • MAY 21, 2007 67
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006