Overshadowed by the outbreak of the Second World War, Sten A. Olsson in 1939, established a trading company in Gothenburg and in doing so, laid the foundations for today’s multi-faceted, international trading group, with a diverse portfolio ranging from metals recovery, property, diagnostics, through to ship design, ownership, management, chartering – both in and out, these activities covering cargo vessels, tankers, oil rigs and ferries. Sten diversified into ship owning in 1946 when he purchased an old whaler, converted her into a cargo vessel named DAN after his son, now Chief Executive of the Stena Group, which over the past 15-years has enjoyed a rapid growth in both size and strength, achieved through acquisition of other companies, such as Sealink-British Ferries, Sweferry Ab, and Universe Tankships, together with a carefully structured development of core activities, controlled from Sweden, the U.K. and U.S.A. At the request of, and with assistance from the Stena Executive’s representative, this 256 page, A4 book with laminated colour, hard cover, has been produced to commemorate their achieving sixty-years in the shipping business, and is illustrated with 325 monochrome and 54 colour images. It has been designed as four chronological-books within one, rather than our normal single chronological fleet. An overview of the Stena Group development, leads the reader into part one which provides an introductory narrative about the dry-cargo operation, followed by that fleet. Part two, similarly laid out, covers tanker operations and that fleet, part three ferry operations and finally, part four covers the offshore oil industry activities, and is followed by a comprehensive index and a 16-page colour photograph section. Of the fleets, including vessels under construction or on order, there are no less than 420 vessels detailed, of which over 270 were owned, 130 chartered or either commercially or technically managed through Stena subsidiaries – Swedish Caledonian, now Northern Marine Management, and the remainder part-owned through associated companies.
Authors: W J Harvey
ISBN: 0-9543310-7-9
Publication Date: 2006
Member’s price: £8+p&p (£3.20 UK, £11.65 EU & Rest of the World)
Non-member’s price: £12+p&p (£3.20 UK, £11.65 EU & Rest of the World)