Belships

Belships ASA
legal form	public limited company
ISIN	NO0010322100
founding	1918/1935
Seat	Oslo , Norway
management	Asbjørn Larsen, CEO
Branch	shipping
Website	www.belships.com (English)

The Norwegian shipping company Belships was founded in 1918 and is considered a pioneer in heavy lift shipping. Today the shipping company deals with dry and tank shipping as well as ship management.

history

Founding years

In 1918, Christen Smith, a former officer in the Norwegian Navy, founded the Belships shipping company. The first two new ships, Belgot and Belfri , were delivered in 1920 and 1921, but were launched in 1921 in the course of the shipping crisis . In the early 1920s, the number of locomotives and railroad cars from Europe and the United States that were shipped to South America and Asia increased. At the time, locomotives were dismantled into their component parts again after they had been built, so that they could be reassembled in the country of destination after shipping by sea. Shortly after the end of the First World War, the British company Armstrong, Whitworth & Company received an order to supply 200 heavy tank locomotives for the Belgian State Railways . Smith convinced the group of the advantages of loading complete locomotives and then had the two laid-up ships Belgot and Belfri converted into heavy lift ships with two large hatches and high-performance loading gear . In this way, locomotives could be ready for operation about a day after being put ashore. In this way, Smith had established a new segment in the freight market.

The first heavy lift carriers

Soon afterwards, Smith received an order to ship a large number of locomotives for the British Indian railway network, which was being expanded . He first traveled to Bombay to investigate the local conditions and then ordered the first newly constructed ship specially designed for heavy cargo transport from the renowned Newcastle shipyard Armstrong, Whitworth & Company . The design of the Beldis , the world's first specially developed heavy lift ship , went one step further than that of the Belgot and Belfri : it had three holds with large hatches and a reinforced tank ceiling, nine heavy lift booms and eight winches. With a load capacity of 3400 tons, it was also prepared for the transport of extremely heavy or particularly bulky loads on deck.

By the end of the decade, the shipping company had six newly built heavy-lift carriers. This fleet, which at the time was still used without comparable competitors, was increasingly used for other than rail transport. For example, heavy cargo transports were also carried out for the growing oil industry . Another advantage was the ability to serve ports with no or insufficient infrastructure.

In the 1930s, the shipping company Christen Smith's fell into a deep financial crisis as a result of the global economic crisis and the costs of expanding its fleet. After restructuring and loan negotiations, the company was able to survive, and in 1935 it was converted into the newly founded Belships Company Limited Skibs-A / S, which went public two years later. On the owner's side, the Lorentzen family, who had been involved in shipping for over a century, joined the management team during the renovation.

Second World War

The founder of the shipping company, Christen Smith, died in the summer of 1940, before German troops marched into Norway. On the part of the Allies, however, the "belships" were of particularly great value, as many heavy war goods had to be transported during the war years. How great the meaning was can be measured by the fact that the term “Belship” became a synonym for heavy lift ships in the Anglo-Saxon-speaking area during the 1930s and 1940s. After the end of the war, the shipping company had to argue with the British authorities about changing the use of the term to heavy lift ships .

The post-war years until the abandonment of heavy goods transport

The rebuilding years after the war proved to be extremely successful for Belships due to the great need for reconstruction worldwide. One of the ships, the Belpamela , was lost in the Atlantic in 1947. New heavy lift ships were ordered, and the Korean War boosted demand again in the early 1950s. The brothers Jørgen Johannes, Axel and Frithjof Lorentzen had taken over the management and over the next few years changed the focus of the Belships shipping company from Christen Smiths' technical approach to a more market-oriented one.

In the course of the 1960s, much of the war-related reconstruction was completed, which resulted in a decrease in the demand for heavy lift cargo. Other factors that further reduced the need for transport were more and more conventional liner cargo ships equipped with more powerful loading gear such as slotted heavy-lift cargo trees or cranes , as well as the establishment of their own fleets by many new nation states, accompanied by protectionism . Belships sold its last heavy lift ship in 1972, leaving the market it had created itself half a century earlier.

Realignment

In the 1960s, Belships began to expand its activities to include tank and dry shipping , as well as refrigerated shipping and car transport. When the first oil crisis hit shipping in the early 1970s, dry shipping, especially timber shipping, was mainly focused on the operation of large tankers.

One after the other, both the tanker market and the bulk market collapsed. The crisis for Belships was made worse by a number of newly ordered ships for which no employment could be found at the time. The turbine tanker Belfri , built in 1975 and with a deadweight of 311,000 tonnes, was initially launched at cheap rates after a five-year charter and later scrapped. The shipping company faced the decision to continue the business with the support of the state Guarantee Institute for ships and drilling vessels , or to bear the loss itself. The latter was chosen, a number of ships were sold at a fraction of their former value and then withdrawn from the tanker business.

At the end of the 1970s, the rates improved again. Belships began a reorientation towards Handysize - bulk carriers with a carrying capacity of around 35-40,000 tons and after the 1960s again participated in the newly launched Western Bulk Carriers Pool. In addition, a number of large bulk cargo and OBO ships of the Mercedes type were involved in the time charter market.

1980s until today

During a drop in rates in the early 1980s, Belships and partners quickly acquired a number of Handysize bulk carriers. The acquisitions carried a great deal of risk as they exhausted the company's capital base to the limit, but were soon rewarded with increasing rates. However, the acquisitions exposed the company to greater currency risks than initially assumed by management, which led to a share purchase offer, which only five percent of the shareholders ultimately accepted. Until the mid-1990s, the shipping company and Western Bulk Carriers participated in the rising rate development in the handysize segment and expanded their participation in product tankers and Panamax ships in the course of the 1990s .

Today the grandchildren of the Lorentzen brothers are already involved in the management of the company.

The ships of the shipping company Belships

Ship type	Surname	Construction year	Load capacity (tdw)	Ship management time
Steam boat	Belgot	1920	3400	1920-1929
Steam boat	Belfri	1921	3400	1921-1934
Motor ship	Beldis	1924	3440	1924-1936
Motor ship	Belnor	1926	3940	1926-1956
Motor ship	Belray	1926	4904	1926-1959
Motor ship	Belpareil	1926	10,282	1926-1965
Motor ship	Beljeanne	1926	10,282	1926-1937
Motor ship	Belmoira	1928	4518	1928-1940
Motor ship	Belpamela	1928	4518	1928-1947
Steam boat	Beldagny	1930	7100	1933-1938
Turbine ship	Beljeanne	1946	10,330	1947-1964
Steamer motor ship	Christians Smith Belforest	1947	7420	1947-1968 1968-1972
Motor ship	Belocean	1947	9830	1947-1968
Steam boat	Belevelyn	1948	7850	1948-1954
Motor ship	Belbetty	1949	5100	1949-1969
Steam boat	Belfri	1943	10,650	1949-1960
Motor ship	Belkarin	1954	6758	1954-1972
Motor tanker	Belfast	1955	19.004	1955-1970
Motor ship	Bellis Bellully	1955	7000	1955-1967 1967-1970
Motor ship	Belevelyn	1957	7000	1957-1972
Motor ship	Bellully	1957	13,400	1957-1959
Motor tanker	Belstar	1958	15,350	1958-1964
Motor ship	Belnor	1959	15,260	1959-1968
Motor ship	Belvera	1959	15,250	1957-1967
Motor tanker	Belfri	1951	24,700	1962-1969
Motor ship	Belisland	1963	15,300	1963-1970
Motor tanker	Belmaj	1964	50.210	1964-1971
Motor ship	Belnippon	1964	6150	1964-1973
Motor ship	Belcargo	1966	17,700	1966-1973
Motor ship	Belblue	1968	18,420	1968-1975
Motor ship	Belocean	1968	17,900	1968-1975
Motor ship	Belnor	1971	37,800	1971-1977
Motor ship	Belstar	1972	37,800	1972-1988
Motor ship	Belobo	1974	78.080	1974-1985
Turbine tanker	Belfri	1975	311,440	1975-1976
Motor ship	Belcargo	1975	108,700	1974-1994
Motor ship	Belnor Stove Campbell Western Bell	1977	38,050	1983-1986 1986-1987 1987-1987
Motor ship	Belwood	1985	39,240	1985-1993
Motor ship	Beltimber	1985	39,260	1985-1993
Motor ship	Belforest	1985	39,220	1985-1993
Motor ship	Jessie Stove	1972	110,340	1986-1988
Motor ship	Norbella Western Traveler Western Trust	1982	45.508	1986-1995 1995-1996 1997-1997
Motor ship	Western tiger	1984	37,180	1987-2000
Motor ship	Western Avenir	1984	36,995	1989-1995
Motor ship	Western Trial	1974	38,410	1989-1991
Motor ship	Western leopard	1984	34,607	1989-1992
Motor ship	Western Friend	1982	45,526	1989-1996
Motor ship	Western Lion	1984	34,607	1990-1992
Motor ship	Belisland Western Key	1985	42,083	1990-1995 1995-1999
Motor ship	Western Bell	1991	42.004	1991-1996
Motor ship	Belstar	1992	43,419	1992-2001
Motor tanker	Belgrace	1984	43,534	1993-2004
Motor ship	Western Shore	1984	43,296	1993-1996
Motor ship	Western Ocean	1995	47,460	1995-1995
Motor ship	Western tide	1995	45,406	1995-2003
Motor ship	Belanja	1995	28,840	1995-1998
Motor tanker	Magnolia	1983	84,656	1995-2001
Motor ship	Belnor	1996	47,369	1996-2007
Motor ship	Western vans	1996	45.402	1996-2001
Motor tanker	Beltrader	1983	40,520	1996-1999
Motor ship	Western Orion	1996	47,639	1996-2001
Motor ship	Western Ondina Ondina	1996	47.639	1996-2004 2004-
Motor ship	Super Adventure IVS Super Adventure Super Adventure	1996	28,630	1996–2002 2002–2003 2003-
Motor ship	Super Challenge IVS Super Challenge Super Challenge	1996	28,581	1996–2002 2002–2003 2003-
Motor ship	Belmaj	1990	149,519	1997-2003
Gas tanker	Yarrow	1982	7500	1997-1998
Motor ship	Western iris	1998	42,556	1998-2004
Motor ship	Western Iceland	1998	42,556	1998-2004
Motor ship	Western Opal Stove Tradition	1998	46.223	1998-2001 2001-
Motor ship	Western Olivine Stove Transport	1998	46.223	1998-2001 2001-
Motor ship	Belguardian	1987	43,435	1998-2005
Motor ship	Western Onyx Stove Campbell	1999	46.223	1999-2001 2001-
Motor ship	Western Obelisk Stove Trader	1999	46.223	1999-2001 2001-
Motor ship	Lake Harumi	2006	55,699	-2007
Motor ship	Virana	1979	42,424	-2007
Motor ship	Bulkavenir	2002	50,399	-2007
Motor ship	Cypress Pass	1988	12,763	2007-2008
Motor ship	Triton Osprey	2007	81,448	-2007

Web links

The company's website (English)

Individual evidence