Solstad Offshore
Encyclopedia
Solstad Offshore is a Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 offshore service and supply ship shipping company that operates 26 vessels with 6 newbuilding contracts, including 9 construction service vessels, 14 anchor handling tug supply vessel
Anchor handling tug supply vessel
Anchor Handling Tug Supply vessels are mainly built to handle anchors for oil rigs, tow them to location, anchor them up and, in a few cases, serve as an Emergency Rescue and Recovery Vessel ....

s and 5 platform supply vessel
Platform supply vessel
A Platform supply vessel is a ship specially designed to supply offshore oil platforms. These ships range from 20 to 100 meters in length and accomplish a variety of tasks...

s. The company is based in Karmøy
Karmøy
Karmøy is a municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It is located southwest of the city of Haugesund in the traditional district of Haugaland....

, but also has offices in Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....

 and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

.

History

The company was foudned as Solstad Rederi by Johannes Solstad in 1964, in a town called Skudeneshavn
Skudeneshavn
is a city on the southernmost tip of the island of Karmøy in Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Haugaland...

, on the island of Karmøy, where it is still headquartered to this day. It started off with ten bulk carrier
Bulk carrier
A bulk carrier, bulk freighter, or bulker is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo, such as grains, coal, ore, and cement in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrier was built in 1852, economic forces have fueled the development of these ships,...

s in the range of to , but entered the offshore supply sector in 1973 with the delivery of four supply ships. By 1982 the entire dry bulk fleet had been sold and Solstad continued as a pure offshore vessel operator, though from 1989 to 1998 it operates five handysize
Handysize
Although there is no official definition in terms of exact tonnages, Handysize most usually refers to a dry bulk vessel with deadweight of about 15,000–35,000 tons...

 bulk carriers. A fleet renewal program started in 1996 increased the fleet size from 12 to 43 by 2007. The same year it was floated on the Oslo Stock Exchange
Oslo Stock Exchange
The Oslo Stock Exchange serves as the main market for trading in the shares of Norwegian companies. It opens at 9:00am and closes 5:30pm local time...

, though the Solstad family retains a major ownership in the company.

Since its initial start in 1964, Solstad Offshore ASA now has become one of the biggest players of modern and advanced vessels for offshore service, with world wide activities and projects for many of the major oil companies. The company is also the major shareholder of Rem Offshore
Rem Offshore
Rem Offshore is a fishing and supply shipping company based in Fosnavåg, Norway. The group operates two platform supply vessels, one anchor handling tug supply vessels and two multi purpose supply vessels...

 and owns 50% of the Singapore based shipping company NOR Offshore. Solstad Offshore ASA is a member of the Norwegian Shipowners Association (Rederiforbundet). As per 2008, the company employes about 1100 people, and has since 2005 been the shipping company with most Norwegian crew sailing in international trade.
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