Background

The first company within Torvald Klaveness was established in 1946 by the late Mr. Torvald Klaveness. It all started with technical and commercial management and competitive brokering.

In 1946, Mr. Torvald Klaveness established his first company. His idea was to provide technical management and Norwegian seafarers to American ship owners. He soon expanded into brokering of reefer vessels and used the proceeds to contract his first vessel "Balao” in 1950.

In 1958, Klaveness built one of the first specialized bulk carriers, for the transportation of fertilizer from Norway. Three years later, Klaveness also became the first to transport cement in bulk.

In 1960, Klaveness ordered six selfunloading bulk carriers of 16,500 dwt together with three Norwegian partners. The vessels became the start of Bulkhandling in 1963, the first shipping pool ever.

Mr. Torvald Klaveness believed that he had to provide cost efficient and predictable transport services to his customers, and that he had to find new and creative ways to do so. Loading and discharging with vessels crew and equipment, new ways to transport hitherto difficult commodities, and creating trading patterns that minimized ballast were some of his hallmarks.

The many innovations were the result of strong technical capabilities combined with a thorough understanding of the customers' challenges. His interest in developing new trades led him to partner with governments and companies in Africa, South America, Eastern Europe, Asia and the former Soviet Union. The partnerships and the pools enabled Klaveness to develop shipping solutions with a scale he could not have accomplished alone.

Throughout his career, Mr. Torvald Klaveness wanted to do business in such a way that he became a trusted partner. In turn, he put his trust in the resourceful people around him and particularly in the captains and crew.

In March 2011 the shareholders of the former Torvald Klaveness Group formalized an agreement regarding a split of the group into two separate entities. The split was fully implemented in September 2011.

The activities related to Klaveness Invest, Real Estate and investments in private equity and shares continued under the ownership of Mr. Tom Erik Klaveness and his daughters under the name Klaveness Marine Holding AS.

The core shipping activities continued under the ownership of Mr. Trond Harald Klaveness, son of the founder. This means that the chartering/operations and container activities and the offices in Shanghai and Manila will continue as Torvald Klaveness together with related management and supporting functions in AS Klaveness Chartering.

The company has built on the history of innovation, partnerships and joint ventures and today having a a business model built on transparency, credibility and trust.

Torvald Klaveness has a global market approach with local presence through offices in Shanghai, Singapore, Manila and Oslo.

Today, Torvald Klaveness operates about 125 vessels carrying some 35 million tons of cargo per year. Among our customers are governments, oil companies, industrial companies and traders.

Our core values are Trust, Innovation, Long-term Commitment and Quality.