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Back to SSG 10
In a globalized industry, Singapore has become a stronghold for the Nordic shipping community. Photo: Dag Bakka Jr
The blue Range
It was the late Kaj Rehnström who invented the idea of the NBSR – the Nordic Baltic Sea Range – that waterlogged northern region of Europe.
In a global perspective, the NBSR is a region of large and diversified maritime activities, in fact one of the major clusters of marine business in the world.
Maritime transport accounts for a high proportion of the cross-border trade in the region, and the trade flows to and from the NBSR are essential to the European shipping market. The region accounts for almost a fifth of the global fleet, and the range of service providers hold a substantial global market share.
There is probably no other sector in which the NBSR region exerts a stronger impact on the global economy than the maritime.
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A diversified cluster
The total involvement in maritime-related activities across the region may be diverse and varying, the background and challenges different, but the people involved are all grappling with the same task: To support and generate seaborne transportation.
There are the same basic dimensions:
• the regional trade flows of great complexity, involving ports, traffic supervision, logistic providers, ferry and cargo services, the distribution of dry bulk and oil products within the European market,
• the involvement in the global shipping industry, with commercial networks and ship operations worldwide,
• the provision of services to shortsea and deepsea shipping, from supplies of all kinds to financial and insurance services, and
• the maritime technology industry, ranging from ship design, shipbuilding, equipment to research & development.
Although the emphasis may be different, there are also similar kinds of operation across the region. Shortsea bulk operators are found everywhere, product tanker owners in most countries, aframax owners likewise, ferry companies, logistic providers, container terminals, repair yards. And so on.
There are important fields of cross-fertilization: Baltic shipyards servicing Scandinavian ships, Norwegian shipbuilders relying heavily on steel work from Polish, Baltic and Russian subcontractors, Baltic and Polish seafarers hired by Scandinavian shipowners. The strength of such cooperation is a sharpened competitive edge to the Scandinavians; markets, giving jobs and competence building in return to the southern shore of the Baltic Sea.
The political changes in the early 1990s have indeed opened new bridges and trade-flows, brought new opportunities and generated massive investment, much of which with a maritime aspect.
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Spanning the world
The shipping communities across the Nordic Baltic region are extensive and diverse, with strong service sectors. Traditionally, the maritime cluster has been divided into national spheres, which makes it hard to grasp its totality.
Our region boasts some of world-class names in liner shipping, A.P. Møller-Mærsk and Wallenius Wilhelmsen, tanker owners like Frontline, Maersk, Torm, Stena Bulk, Concordia, Nordic American, Lundqvist, Prisco, Novoship, Norden, etc. Knutsen OAS and Teekay Norway are the leading in shuttle tankers. Many of the leading chemical tanker operators are found in the NBSR, Odfjell Seachem, JO Tankers, Eitzen Chemical, Broström, Lasco and Bryggen.
In the smaller range of products and chemicals there are operations like Clipper-Wonsild, Uni-Tank, Nordtank fronting several Swedish owners, Herning, Tärntank, Utkilen, Stenersen, and gas carrier operations by BW Gas, Maersk, Solvang, Eitzen Gas, Lauritzen, Norgas, etc.
Strong presence
The presence in dry bulk is particularly strong, with the majority of the tonnage owned elsewhere; Clipper, Norden, Klaveness, Golden Ocean, Lauritzen Bulkers, Eitzen Bulk, Western Bulk, etc. The open-hatch forest products market is dominated by Gearbulk and Star Shipping, the reefer market by NYKLauritzenCool and Swan Shipping (with a Norwegian link), and Limarko, Holy House and Green Reefers as important players. K G Jebsen is the leading cement transportation company in the world. Stena Line, DFDS, Transatlantic, UECC, Unifeeder and the Rettig group are among the leading unit freight operators in Northern Europe. The offshore support sector has a strong Scandinavian participation.
Even foreign shipping companies have seen the potential in the NBSR community. World-Wide and Teekay have taken strong positions in Norway, Grimaldi taking ACL and Finnlines, Wagenborg buying Transfennica, Esco going to Norwegians and Lisco to DFDS. French and American owners have taken stakes in the Norwegian offshore fleet.
Also in sectors like ship management, crewing, ship supply and port agencies, companies of Scandinavian origin or ownership hold strong international positions. Among the shipping banks DnB and Nordea rank as the leading; the Scandinavian position in marine insurance is even stronger, some 20–25 per cent of the global market.
Commercial position
Building on the available information on the domicile of the shipping companies, which hold severe discrepancies, as much as 85 million DWT of ships may be attributed to Nordic owners. In addition, large fleets of foreign-owned ships are being operated commercially on time charter or pool basis, particularly by the bulk and product tanker groups. Together, at least 150 million DWT is being controlled by Nordic-related companies; about 15 per cent of the global fleet.
Over the last three years, Nordic owners have invested an approximate of USD 50 billion in new and secondhand ships, according to our own records. These testify to bold ambitions.
Visible owners
Much of the strength in the shipping infrastructure in our area is the entrepreneurial factor, the strong involvement by visible owners and the comparatively open access to a dynamic market. The combination of large integrated groups with medium-sized companies and a fair undergrowth of aspiring owners promises well for the continued growth of the shipping industry.
And most importantly, the newfound cooperation across the NBSR has been a tremendous stimulant for our maritime industries. It has opened new trade flows, access to low-cost production and labour as well as a market for products and jobs. Much has been achieved in 15 years; more is to be achieved by using the networks for the further development in the future.
The characteristic communities of NBSR
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The NBSR maritime communities are distinctly different, each with its characteristics. The Finnish maritime cluster has an emphasis on its national export and import trade, with a strong shipbuilding sector.
Sweden has a large element of shipping logistics by ferry and cargo services, but also a thriving group of tanker owners and some world-class shipping names.
Denmark has a core of large and diversified companies, but above all a global trading network with Copenhagen as the centre.
Traditionally a cross-trader nation, Norway is still strong in niches and with an extensive cluster of maritime industries including shipbuilding and financial services.
Russia, which is a genuine party to the NBSR, is important by its vast resources and trade flows. Much of the shipping activities have been taken international, in management and chartering, but the current upturn is benefiting the regeneration of the fleet.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have been rebuilding a new maritime industry from the old state-owned giants, with a score of smaller companies coming up in the shortsea sector and a good number of service providers in shiprepair, etc.
The Polish shipbuilding industry has been going through a difficult period, although the smaller yards are thriving and Polish maritime labour have long been being exported to Scandinavia.
Germany, which may in part be considered a NBSR party, has been going through an expansion of dramatic proportion, the fleet being more than doubled in ten years, and with a thriving cluster of related industries.
//Dag Bakka Jr
Latest update 14-05-2007 13:49
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No 12/2008
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| CURRENT SST |
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No 15/2008
Köp numret
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2007