The history

The company has its roots back to 1896, when the founder of the Knutsen company bought his first vessel. The company grew steadily and in the 1930s the company was the third largest shipping group in Norway. In the first years the company was a typical North Sea trader and also engaged in fishing activities, but soon the company expanded into tanker and liner trades. It built up a liner trade between Europe and South America, and later liner trades in the Orient.
In the early 1970s the company invested in the tanker business, and when the tanker crisis came in the end of the 70s, the company ran into financial problems. In 1984 the Knutsen family left the company and the shipping activities were reorganised with new owners.

The present main owners of Knutsen OAS Shipping AS are its chairman Jens Ulltveit-Moe and its managing director Trygve Seglem.

Knutsen OAS Shipping implemented its present strategy in 1984, based on newbuildings with long term contracts to first class charterers.