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Thor Invests Heavily to Renew, Extend Fleets |
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Archives -
2007 Archive
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Written by B. Tyril
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Tuesday, 22 May 2007 |
Thor Offshore Services moves to reduce the average age of its fleet of support ships, ordering two newbuilds with more in the pipeline — as sister company Thor Fisheries purchases two giant freezer trawlers.
The pace of business development appears to be steadily rising at Thor Pf as the company rolls out massive investment plans for both its maritime services and fishing divisions, responding to ever-increasing demands from literally every corner of the world.
In July 2006, Thor Offshore Services ordered the construction of a new supply vessel from Faroe Yard (Tórshavnar Skipasmiđja) with a similar order signed in February of 2007 and several more likely to follow in a newly launched program designed to reduce the average age of Thor’s fleet of support vessels and tugs by two years annually during the next 10 years.
The 55-meter newbuild under construction at Faroe Yard’s Skála shipyard — in fact the first steel ship to be built in Faroe for years — is scheduled for delivery by November 2007, at the price of 75 million dkk (10m eur / 6.8m gbp).
Meanwhile, in early 2007, Thor Fisheries signed a contract worth 300m dkk (40m eur / 27m gbp) for the purchase of two giant freezer trawlers to catch and process horse mackerel and other pelagic species in international waters, mostly west of northern Africa.
The 105-meter trawlers, christened the Hercules and the Poseidon, respectively, are part of a series of sister ships built in the 1990s in Vigo, Spain — like another vessel that entered the fold in late 2005, the Athena, owned by Ocean Group Faroes and managed by shareholder Thor. The three trawlers are bigger than any other fishing vessels flying the Faroe flag; similarly, another vessel from the same series and size, the Engey, happens to be Iceland’s largest trawler.
Thor is indeed the story of a fast growing enterprise that started out as a Faroese fishing vessel operator in the mid 1990s, harvesting turbot and other species with gillnetters and longliners. By 1997 the company decided to enter the maritime services market, operating support vessels to serve the offshore oil and gas industry. Before anyone knew, it had evolved into a leading provider in its own field, with a special strength in the seismic sector.
With headquarters still in Hósvík where it all began, Thor today owns and operates a fleet of about 25 vessels, employing some 700 people in various parts of the world, 18 of which work at the Hósvík offices.
In a recent development, the company has started to diversify its business, taking over 75 percent of shellfish processor O. C. Joensen, located at Oyri, close to Hósvík, the home town of Thor’s majority shareholder and chief executive Hans Andrias Joensen.
“The growing quality demands of global markets means we have to constantly develop every aspect of the business,” said Hans Andrias Joensen’s brother and Thor co-founder, managing director Gunnbjörn Joensen.
“Our recently adopted program to reduce the average age of our fleet by two years annually during the next 10 years is a major commitment to this. At the same time, we recognize the need to diversify in order to avoid a too high dependency on any one particular market.”
Recognizing the company’s amazing achievements, the Faroe Industry Association awarded Thor the Company of Year 2006 prize.
As Mr Joensen pointed out, the Faroes is a country connected to the ocean in every way imaginable, with a large pool of navigators, chief engineers and seamen; most of the officers on board Thor’s vessels are indeed Faroese although the crews are international.
While the Faroes only represents a fraction of Thor’s global business, the company however offers its services as port agents here, handling e.g. crew transfers by helicopter on behalf of client research vessels.
The services carried out by Thor include transportation of freight and spare parts to oil rigs in addition to various tasks on a need-to-do basis.
To keep its own fleet of supply vessels around the world operational and effective wherever situated, transport of crews is essential and viewed as a crucial part of the company’s service infrastructure.
“Our core values include professionalism, reliability, teamwork, innovation, and ethical conduct,” Mr Joensen said, “all of which really means service and responsibility.
“Our greatest strength lies in the skillfulness and trustworthiness of our employees; however, to survive and thrive in this business we have to work truly globally and be extremely competitive. So we employ flexible and multilingual people from around the world.”
Link to pdf presentation...
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