A bulk carrier or bulker is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo — such as grains, coal, ore, steel coils, and cement — in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrier was built in 1852, economic forces have led to continued development of these ships, resulting in increased size and sophistication. Today's bulk carriers are specially designed to maximize capacity, safety, efficiency, and durability.
Erling Dekke Næss was a Norwegian shipowner and businessman. Brother of philosopher Arne Dekke Næss, his nephew was the mountaineer and businessman Arne Næss Jr. Best known for his early adoption of flags of convenience, Næss was Deputy Head of Nortraship's New York office from 1942 to 1946. Næss was the initiator behind the OBO carrier. He is also credited as proposing the Norwegian International Ship Register, which allowed Norwegian shipowners to compete on an equal footing with flags of convenience.
BW Group is a maritime company involved in shipping, floating gas infrastructure and deep-water oil & gas production. The company has over 350 vessels managed by an international team of over 7000 staff worldwide. The group was founded by Sir Yue-Kong Pao in Hong Kong in 1955 as World-Wide Shipping. In 2003, the company acquired Bergesen d.y. ASA, Norway's largest shipping company, which was founded in 1935 by Sigval Bergesen the Younger. In 2005, the business was re-branded as BW. With its LNG and LPG fleets combined, BW Group owns and operates the world's largest gas shipping fleet of more than 115 gas vessels, including four FSRUs. Hafnia, a member of the BW Group, operates the world's largest fleet of oil product tankers, and BW Offshore comprises the second largest number of floating oil and gas production units (FPSOs). BW's controlled fleet of over 350 ships also includes crude oil supertankers and dry bulk carriers.
Odfjell SE is a company specialising in worldwide seaborne transportation and storage of chemicals and other speciality bulk liquids. The Odfjell fleet comprises more than 80 ships in total. The ships transport around 600 different kinds of liquids, including organic and inorganic bulk liquid chemicals, acids, animal fats, edible oils, portable alcohols and clean petroleum products. Odfjell’s ships are mainly registered in Norway (NIS) and Singapore, and are primarily manned by Norwegian and Filipino mariners.
Handysize is a naval architecture term for smaller bulk carriers or oil tanker with deadweight of up to 50,000 tonnes, although there is no official definition in terms of exact tonnages. Handysize is also sometimes used to refer to the span of up to 60,000 tons, with the vessels above 35,000 tonnes referred to as Handymax or Supramax.
An ore-bulk-oil carrier, also known as combination carrier or OBO, is a ship designed to be capable of carrying wet or dry cargoes. The idea is to reduce the number of empty (ballast) voyages, in which large ships only carry a cargo one way and return empty for another. These are a feature of the larger bulk trades.
B+H Ocean Carriers Ltd. is an international shipping company. The company operates seven bulk ships, seven product tankers and two chemical tankers. Based in Hamilton, Bermuda the company also has offices in Oslo, Singapore, Bristol and New York. The company is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange and the American Stock Exchange.
Eidsiva Rederi is an international shipping company based in Oslo that operates nine car carriers and four Ro-Ro vessels in addition to two other ships. Among the chartering companies are Hyundai and DFDS Tor Line.
A/S J. Ludwig Mowinckels Rederi is a Bergen-based shipping company that operates eight tankers with six newbuildings. The company is privately owned and has divided ownership between one foundation and the Mowinckel family through the founder's J. Ludwig Mowinckel's wife Julie Mowinckel's will and testament - still after 30 years waiting to be settled. The foundation "Magda Muller Mowincels Legat" was set up in 1985 by Magda Mowinckel - the daughter of the founder - and aims to protect and serve for the company's economy and existence.
Wilson ASA is a shortsea liner shipping company that operates about 100 vessels, of which 64 are owned. The ships are bulk carriers in the range of 1,500 long tons deadweight (DWT) to 10,000 DWT. The company is controlled by Kristian Eidesvik who owns about 80% of the company. Headquarters are located in Bergen, Norway.
Solstad Offshore is a Norwegian offshore service and supply ship shipping company that operates 89 vessels and including 26 construction service vessels, 21 anchor handling tug supply vessels and 42 platform supply vessels. The company is based in Skudeneshavn, but also has offices in Ålesund, Aberdeen, Rio de Janeiro, Perth, Singapore, Manila and Odessa.
The J. J. Ugland Companies is a group of shipping companies based in Grimstad, Norway.
The Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB) is one of the oldest Antwerp ship-owners. It is controlled by the Saverys family who also own major stakes in the Exmar and Euronav groups.
Bahri, formerly known as the National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia, is a transportation and logistics company, positioned as the national shipping carrier of Saudi Arabia.
COSCO Shipping Energy Transportation Co., Ltd., stylized as COSCO SHIPPING Energy, is a Chinese oil tanker shipping company with its headquarters in Hongkou District, Shanghai. The company transports crude oil, LNG, and LPG. It is a subsidiary of COSCO Shipping. It is the world's largest oil tanker shipping company in terms of fleet capacity.
The H. Vogemann Group is a German shipping company. Founded in 1886, the company is privately owned by its managing partners and its fleet of bulk carriers has a capacity of more than 1.5 million tonnes deadweight (DWT).
Sauniere was a self-unloading bulk carrier operated by Algoma Central. Laid down as Bulknes, before launching the vessel's name was changed to Brooknes. The ship was constructed and completed in 1970. The ship was initially owned by the Swedish company Kristian Jebsens Rederi A/S. In 1974, Algoma Central purchased the vessel, registered the ship in West Germany and renamed it Algosea. Algoma Central sent the ship to Swan Hunter in England to be lengthened. Emerging in 1976, Algosea sailed for Canada for conversion to a self-unloading bulk carrier at Herb Fraser and Associates in Port Colborne, Ontario. Algosea, which transported road salt between ports in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Saint Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes suffered three collisions and two groundings during its career. The Algosea was renamed Sauniere in 1982 and continued in service until 2009 when the bulk carrier was sold for scrap and broken up in Turkey in 2010.
J. Lauritzen(JL) is a Danish shipping company with worldwide operations headquartered in Hellerup, Denmark. JL is a private company wholly owned by the Lauritzen Foundation, a Danish commercial foundation that is also the main shareholder of DFDS, one of Europe's largest ferry shipping and logistics company.
Peter Döhle Schiffahrts-KG ("PD") is a seaborne shipping company and maritime service provider headquartered in Hamburg, Germany. It is the parent holding company of the Döhle Group which has several affiliates and is operating worldwide. The Company owns and operates a fleet of container vessels, multi-purpose vessels and bulk carriers. The group of companies employs worldwide around 4,800 crew members as well as 2,000 employees ashore.
