Odfjell Quarterly October 2012

highlightsODFJELL QUARTERLY magazineOdfjell Gas in the ‘80s’By Knut H. Holsen, SVP Odfjell Gas, BergenOperating gas carriersis nothing new to Odfjell.In the early ‘80s the jointventure Odfjell Westfal-Larsen Chartering had thecommercial managementof Hardanger (ownerWestfal-Larsen & Co AS)and Bow Elm (owner ASRederiet Odfjell).8In 1983 the Norbelgaspool was formed, whichincluded the vessels mentionedabove plus EinarTambarskjelve (ownerNorgas) and Coral Temse(owner Exmar in Belgium).This pool lasted until 1985.The vessels Hardanger, BowElm and Coral Temse wereall about 8,000 cbm, withEinar Tambarskjelve as the‘big sister’ of about 8,500cbm, all ethylene carriers.Coral Temse and EinarTambarskjelve were tradedin the petrochemical gasmarket, while Hardangerand Bow Elm were so called‘multi purpose’ carriers, firstof its kind and were tradedboth with chemicals andgases, whatever gave thebest return. The marketswere very difficult in theearly ‘80s’ with a substantialincrease in the supply oftonnage both for chemicaltankers and gas ships.Odfjell and Westfal-Larsen& Co AS decided to leavethis market in 1987 andfocused their investmentson their core business.Hardanger and Bow Elmwere sold to Norgas andrenamed Norgas Voyagerand Norgas Discoverer.Old Bow Elm (on top) and Hardangerwww.odfjell.com