Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T07:15:03.525Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Transformation of Swedish Shipping, 1970–2010

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 November 2012

Hans Sjögren ,
Thomas Taro Lennerfors  and
René Taudal Poulsen
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Since the early 1970s, as shipping has undergone a period of structural change, Swedish shipping has rapidly declined from a position of global importance. The Swedish-controlled fleet has dwindled, and the structure of the industry itself has changed. This article explores the influence of shipping markets, shipping regulations, company strategies, maritime know-how, and financial resources on the development of Swedish shipping from 1970 to 2010. A comparison is made between, on the one hand, the direction taken by two failing companies and, on the other, the courses followed by two companies that managed to grow despite difficult conditions. On a broader level, the article traces the development of expertise in a declining industry.

Type
Articles
Information
Business History Review , Volume 86 , Issue 3 , Autumn 2012 , pp. 417 - 445
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Palmberg, Johanna, Johansson, Börje, and Karlsson, Charlie, Den svenska sjöfartsnäringens ekonomiska och geografiska nätverk och kluster (Jönköping, 2006)Google Scholar.

2 On studies of decline in the twentieth century shipping industry, see Tenold, Stig, Tankers in Trouble: Norwegian Shipping and the Crisis of the 1970s and 1980s (Newfoundland, 2006)Google Scholar; Kaukainen, Yrjö, A History of Finnish Shipping (London, 1993)Google Scholar; Fischer, Lewis and Lange, Even, eds., International Merchant Shipping in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: The Comparative Dimension (Newfoundland, 2008)Google Scholar; Harlaftis, Gelina and Theotokas, John, “Maritime Business during the Twentieth Century: Continuity and Change,” in Hand-book of Maritime Economics and Business, ed. Grammenos, Costas Th. (London, 2002), 9–34Google Scholar.

3 For an analysis of Swedish shipping policies of the 1970s and 1980s, see Sjögren, Hans, Spelet i Saléninvest: Staten, bankerna, ägarna och ledningen, 1973–97 (Stockholm, 1999), 159–217Google Scholar. For an industry viewpoint on Swedish shipping policies of the 2000s, see for instance Svensk Sjöfarts Tidning no. 10 (2001): 11Google Scholar; no. 25 (2001): 117–19; no. 1 (2007): 11; no. 15 (2008): 11; no. 8 (2009): 11.

4 For main research on Swedish shipping history post-1960, see Fritz, Martin and Olsson, Kent, “Twentieth-Century Shipping Strategies: Broström and Transatlantic, Gothenburg's Leading Shipping Companies,” in Research in Maritime History 6 (1994): 91–109Google Scholar; Olsson, Kent, Göteborgs historia: Näringsliv och samhällsutveckling 3 (Stockholm, 1996)Google Scholar; Kuuse, Jan and Olsson, Kent, Sjöfart och sjöförsäkring under 125 år (Gothenburg, 1997)Google Scholar; Sjögren, Spelet; Sjögren, Hans, “Shipping as Gambling: Governance Mechanisms and the 1984 Bankruptcy of Saléninvest,” Scandinavian Economic History Review 47, no. 1 (1999): 48–64CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Poulsen, René Taudal, “Liner Shipping and Technological Innovation: Ostasiat and the Container Revolution, 1963–75,” Scandinavian Economic History Review 55, no. 2 (2007): 83–100CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Lindgren, Erik, Stenberg, Erik, and Villa, Sarah, Stena—Beskrivning av en Sfär (Gothenburg, 2008)Google Scholar; Lennerfors, Thomas Taro, Stockholmsrederierna—Ägandet och nätverkens betydelse för tanksjöfartens utveckling i Stockholm, 1980–2000 (Gothenburg, 2009)Google Scholar; Poulsen, René Taudal, “The Emergence of New Organisational Forms in Liner Shipping: Swedish Liner Shipping and International Consortia, 1960–75,” Journal of Transport History 31, no. 1 (2010): 69–88CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

5 Olsson, and Kuuse, , Sjöförsäkring, 382Google Scholar.

6 Stopford, Martin, Maritime Economics (New York, 2009)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

7 Ibid., 93–134.

8 Tenold, Tankers.

9 Sjögren, Spelet; Todd, Daniel, Industrial Dislocation: The Case of Global Shipbuilding (London, 1999)Google Scholar; Stråth, Bo, The Politics of De-Industrialisation: The Contraction of West-European Shipbuilding Industry (London, 1987)Google Scholar; Poulsen, René Taudal and Sornn-Friese, Henrik, “Downfall Delayed: Danish Shipbuilding and Industrial Dislocation,” Business History 53, no. 4 (2011): 557–82CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

10 Sjögren, , Spelet, 56–58Google Scholar.

11 Stopford, Economics.

12 Broeze, Frank, Globalization of the Oceans: Containerization from the 1950s to the Present (Newfoundland, 2002)Google Scholar.

13 Svensk, Sjöfarts Tidning no. 25 (2001): 117Google Scholar.

14 Lennerfors, Stockholmsrederierna.

15 Stopford, , Economics, 118–30Google Scholar.

16 On Swedish investments in product tankers, see Friberg, Daniel, Donsörederierna: Från dåtid till framtid (Gothenburg, 2007)Google Scholar.

17 Stopford, Economics; Wijnolst, Niko and Wergeland, Tor, Shipping Innovation (Amsterdam, 2009)Google Scholar.

18 For such views, see Hermansson, Robert, Sveriges Redareförening 100 år, 1906–2006 (Gothenburg, 2006)Google Scholar; Rinman, Thorsten and Brodefors, Rigmor, Sjöfartens historia (Gothenburg, 1982)Google Scholar; Svensk Sjöfarts Tidning no. 25 (2002): 117–19Google Scholar.

19 Tenold, Stig, Changes in the Distribution of the World Fleet, 1970–87 (Bergen, 2000), 7Google Scholar.

20 Stopford, , Economics, 670Google Scholar.

21 Carlisle, Rodney P., Sovereignty for Sale: The Origins and Evolution of the Panamanian and Liberian Flags of Convenience (Annapolis, Md., 1981)Google Scholar; Stopford, , Economics, 666–75Google Scholar; De Sombre, Elizabeth R., Flagging Standards: Globalization and Environmental, Safety, and Labor Regulations at Sea (Cambridge, Mass., 2006)Google Scholar.

22 Sjögren, , Spelet, 160–87Google Scholar.

23 Lennerfors, Stockholmsrederierna.

24 Poulsen, René Taudal, “Shifts in the Maritime Labour Market: Drivers of Demand for and Supply of Seafarers, ca. 1965–2008,” in Maritime People, ed. ter Brugge, Jeroen, Credland, Arthur, and Hamre, Harald (Stavanger, 2011), 36–48Google Scholar.

25 Lennerfors, , Stockholmsrederierna, 164Google Scholar.

26 Aspden, P., Shipping Law Faces Europe: European Policy, Competition, and Environment, International Colloquium held on 16, 17 and 18 November (Antwerp, 1995), 84–85Google Scholar. Interview with Per Sjöberger, Swedish Shipowners' Association, Gothenburg, 9 Mar. 2009.

27 Tenold, Tankers; Jeppesen, Hans, Andersen, Svend Aage, and Johansen, Hans Chr., Containere and koncentration: Dansk søfarts historie, 1960–2000 (Copenhagen, 2001), 147–48Google Scholar; Henrik Sornn-Friese and Martin Jes Iversen, “The Making of the Danish International Ship Register (DIS)—Foreshadowing of the Danish Maritime Cluster: A History of Responsive Policy to Structural Change in International Shipping,” unpublished manuscript.

28 De Sombre, Flagging.

29 Svensk Sjöfarts Tidning no. 25 (2001): 117Google Scholar; Lennerfors, Stockholmsrederierna.

30 Statens offentliga utredningar (SOU), Svensk sjöfartsnäring hot och möjligheter (Stockholm, 1998), 129Google Scholar; Sjöfartsverket, , Den svenskflaggade handelsflottans konkurrenssituation (Stockholm, 1998)Google Scholar.

31 Sjöfartsverket, Konkurrenssituation.

32 Näringsdepartementet, Den svenska sjöfartspolitiken (Stockholm, 2001), 39Google Scholar. Sjöfartsverket has still only approved the Philippine education system, which means that there are only Philippinos sailing on Swedish-flagged ships under the TAP system. By 2008, around 1,000 people worked under the TAP system.

33 Svensk Sjöfarts Tidning no. 25 (2001): 1, 117–19Google Scholar.

34 SOU, Betänkande av Tonnageskatteutredningen (Stockholm, 2006), 20Google Scholar.

35 Ibid., 25.

36 Redareförening, Sveriges, Sveriges Redareföreningens Verksamhet Sjöfartsåret, 2004 (Gothenburg, 2005), 4, 10Google Scholar; Redareförening, Sveriges, Sveriges Redareförenings Verksamhet Sjöfartsåret, 2006–07 (Gothenburg, 2007), 6Google Scholar; Redareförening, Sveriges, Sveriges Redareförenings Verksamhet Sjöfartsåret, 2007–08 (Gothenburg, 2008), 4–6Google Scholar; Redareförening, Sveriges, Sveriges Redareförenings Verksamhet Sjöfartsåret, 08–09 (Gothenburg, 2009), 4–5Google Scholar. The lack of a tonnage tax was also a favorite topic in the editorial of Svensk Sjöfarts Tidning in the 2000s, see for instance no. 13 (2004): 11; no. 19 (2006): 11; no. 7 (2007): 11; no. 5 (2009): 11; no. 8 (2009): 11.

37 Svensk Sjöfarts Tidning no. 10 (2009): 20–21Google Scholar.

38 SOU, Svensk sjöfarts konkurrensförutsättningar (Stockholm, 2010), 73Google Scholar.

39 Olsson, Göteborgs; Kuuse and Olsson, Sjöförsäkring.

40 For example, Saléninvest's CEO, who repeatedly stated that Saléninvest will never pay one Swedish krona in profit tax. See Lennerfors, Stockholmsrederierna.

41 og Erhvervsministeriet, Økonomi-, Danmark som Europas førende søfartsnation (Copenhagen, 2006)Google Scholar.

42 Fritz and Olsson, Strategies; Mattson, Algot, ed., Tre generationer på sju hav: Broströmskoncernen, 1865–1965 (Gothenburg, 1965)Google Scholar.

43 Larsson, Sören and Saving, Jaak, Nordstjernan inifrån, 1890–1990 (Stockholm, 1990)Google Scholar.

44 Poulsen, Ostasiat and Consortia.

45 Broeze, , Globalization, 79–113Google Scholar.

46 AB, Rederi Transatlantic, Annual Report, 1983 (Gothenburg, 1984)Google Scholar; Transkoncernen, , Annual Reports, 1984–88 (Gothenburg, 1985–1989), 2–5Google Scholar; Poulsen, Ostasiat and Consortia.

47 Transatlantic-koncernen, , Annual Report, 1985 (Gothenburg, 1986), 2–5Google Scholar.

48 Broströms Rederi, AB, Annual Report, 1978 (Gothenburg, 1979), 3–4Google Scholar; AB, Broströms Rederi, Annual Report, 1981 (Gothenburg, 1982), 3Google Scholar.

49 Tirfing, Ångfartygs AB, Annual Reports, 1972–75 (Gothenburg, 1973–1986)Google Scholar; AB, Broströms Rederi, Annual Reports, 1975–81 (Gothenburg, 1976–1982)Google Scholar.

50 Sjögren, , Spelet, 382–83Google Scholar.

51 On Nordstjernan, see Rinman, Thorsten, Rederiet: Johnson Line under 100 år (Gothenburg 1990)Google Scholar and Larsson and Saving, Inifrån.

52 Sjögren, , Spelet, 65–114Google Scholar.

53 Sjögren, Spelet; Lennerfors, Stockholmsrederierna.

54 This section is based on Lennerfors, Stockholmsrederierna; Björklund, Bo, Fris, Bengt, and Röhl, Annika, eds., Walleniusrederierna, 1934–1984: Glimtar ur rederiets historia med anledning av 50-årsjubiléet den 23 november 1984 (Stockholm, 1984)Google Scholar; and Sjögren, Hans, “Stockholms sjöfart i omvandling,” in Tillväxt and Tradition: Perspektiv på Stockholms moderna ekonomiska historia, ed. Lindgren, Håkan and Petersson, Tom (Stockholm, 2008), 215–48Google Scholar.

55 Sjögren, , Spelet, 382–83Google Scholar.

56 Stopford, , Economics, 492–96Google Scholar; Ekberg, Espen, “The Growth of the Deep-Sea Car-Carrying Industry, 1960–2008,” in Research in Maritime History no. 46, ed. Fischer, Lewis R. and Lange, Even (St. John's, Newfoundland, 2011), 253–79Google Scholar.

57 Wilhelmsen, Wilh., Annual Reports, 2000–2008 (Oslo, 2001–2009)Google Scholar.

58 Lindgren, Stenberg, and Villa, Stena.

59 The following is based on AB, Concordia Maritime, Annual Report and Accounts, 1984–2010 (Gothenburg, 1985–2011)Google Scholar.

60 Concordia, , Annual Report, 1990, 8Google Scholar.

61 Lindgren, Stenberg, and Villa, , Stena, 8–11Google Scholar.

62 Lorange, Peter, Shipping Strategy: Innovating for Success (Cambridge, U.K., 2009)Google Scholar; Wijnolst and Wergeland, Innovation; Stopford, Economics.

63 Poulsen, Ostasiat and Consortia.

64 Mattson, Tre generationer.

65 Transatlantic-koncernen, , Annual Reports, 1985–1988 (Gothenburg, 1986–1989)Google Scholar. See also Brooks, Mary, Sea Change in Liner Shipping: Regulation and Managerial Decisionmaking in a Global Industry (Oxford, 2000)Google Scholar on liner shipping and entry barriers into this business.

66 Concordia, , Annual Report, 1984, 3Google Scholar.

67 Hermansson, Robert, Historien om Stena Bulk (Gothenburg, 2007), 14–18Google Scholar.

68 AB, Concordia Maritime and AB, Stena, Annual Reports, 1984–2010 (Gothenburg, 1985–2011)Google Scholar.

69 AB, Stena, Annual Reports, 1986/87–2009 (Gothenburg, 1988–2010)Google Scholar, clearly shows the expansion of the technical expertise in-house in Stena. From 1993 onwards, the reports contained a chapter titled “Stena Teknik,” which described the in-house development of new vessel designs both for the ferry services and for Concordia Maritime.

70 Lennerfors, Stockholmsrederierna.

71 Sjögren, , Spelet, 281–335Google Scholar; Lennerfors, Stockholmsrederierna.

72 Sjögren, , Spelet, 219–335Google Scholar; Olofsson, Per-Göran, Konkurs eller frivillig rekonstruktion? Rederiet Saléninvests finansiella kris, förhandlingarna, konkurs och tiden därefter (Stockholm, 2000), 97–131Google Scholar.

73 Lauritzen, J. A/S, Annual Reports and Accounts, 2002–04 (Copenhagen, 2003–2005)Google Scholar; Lange, Ole, Logbog for Lauritzen, 1884–1995: Historien om konsulen, hans sønner og Lauritzen Gruppen (Copenhagen, 1995)Google Scholar.

74 Svensk Sjöfarts Tidning no. 1 (2008): 18–21Google Scholar; no. 1 (2010): 9.

75 Svensk Sjöfarts Tidning no. 7 (2009): 56Google Scholar; Stopford, , Economics, 488–92, 584, 590Google Scholar; “Specialised Reefer Fleet to Shrink Further,” Lloyd's List, 14 Sept. 2010Google Scholar.

76 The following sections are based on Lennerfors, Stockholmsrederierna.

77 http://www.saltech.se/ and http://www.stochart.com/ (accessed 8 Aug. 2012).

78 Gas, BW, Annual Report, 2008 (Oslo, 2009)Google Scholar.

79 Lennerfors, , Stockholmsrederierna, 43–61, 117–18Google Scholar. Olofsson, , Konkurs, 121–31Google Scholar.

80 Lennerfors, , Stockholmsrederierna, 71Google Scholar.

81 Ibid., 76.

82 Schumpeter, Joseph A., The Theory of Economic Development: An Inquiry into Profits, Capital, Credit, Interest and the Business Cycle (Cambridge, Mass., 1934)Google Scholar.