ANNUAL REPORT 2024
REPORT FROM THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Shipping & Offshore Network was established in 1981 as Bulkforum and changed its name in 2013.
In 2018 we launched the Maritime Oslofjord Alliance, an alliance with Oslo Shipowners’ Association and Ocean Industry Forum Oslofjord. The Alliance has its own website www.maritimeoslofjord.no With our association being the international one of the three, we are also looking to attract more members from abroad, particularly from the Nordic countries. Our members are from a variety of countries Altogether the Alliance comprises some 150+ companies. Through a membership in Shipping & Offshore Network with our 50 company members, foreign companies gain access to an entire cluster of maritime and ocean based companies in Norway and abroad
In 2024 we enjoyed a good turnout for our Annual Summit as well as for our three Shipping Academy courses, and we are partner in an EU/Interreg project. So all in all it was another good year for us.
The AGM was held on Tuesday 27 February with a seminar titled “Freedom of the Seas –Consequences for Seaborne Trade?” with Dr Iver B. Neumann, Dr Ulf Sverdrup, General (R) Sverre Diesen, and Mr Svein Ringbakken Our Annual Summit was held at Losby Gods on 11–12 April, titled “The Future of Shipping – Consequences and Implications of the Energy Transition and Shifts in Trade”. Our two Market Update meetings were held in Oslo and Bergen on 8 and 21 October, respectively. Also, we collaborated with our Maritime Oslofjord Alliance partners about meetings.
Our Shipping Academy conducted our classic 1-day course in Basic Shipping and Maritime Law, on 13 November. On 18 June we conducted the new “Ship Finance in One Day” and on 25 June the new “Ship Management in One Day”, both of these were launched the year before, in 2023.
The Board is pleased to sum up an active year. Our turnover was NOK 1,680,881 with a record profit of NOK 71,132. This profit is largely due to our Interreg project Blue Supply Chains (2022-2025).
Oslo, 25 February, 2025
THE BOARD, clockwise from left: Helene Westfal-Larsen, Frank Solberg, Dr Per Olaf Brett (chair), André Borge, Arnstein Eknes, Tom O. Kleppestø (general manager), and Kjartan Bru
The members meetings in more detail
FEBRUARY: Our Annual General Meeting was held on Tuesday 27 February. Present were altogether 61 attendees: 24 delegates representing 20 members, in addition to guests and the General Manager, Tom O. Kleppestø, who was elected to sign the protocol
Dr Per Olaf Brett was re-elected as chair as was the entire board except Ms Margrethe Bøe Landro from G2 Ocean AS who did not opt for reelection. Mr Frank Solberg from Sibelco Nordic AS joined the board.
The new board looked like this:
¡ Arnstein Eknes, DNV AS
¡ Kjartan Bru, BNP Paribas SA Norway Branch
¡ Frank Solberg, Sibelco Nordic AS
¡ Per Olaf Brett (chair), Ulstein International AS
¡ André Borge, Wagle Chartering AS
¡ Helene Westfal-Larsen, Westfal-Larsen Shipping AS
Right: Kristin Omholt-Jensen, Maritime Optima, and Tore Forsmo, The Swedish Club. Below: Iver B. Neumann, Fridtjof Nansen Institute
After the AGM followed a seminar on “Freedom of the Seas – Consequences for World Seaborne Trade” with Sverre Diesen, MSc, Researcher, General (R), Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI), Former Chief of Defence of Norway, Iver B. Neumann, PhD, Director, Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI), Expert on Polar and Russian Politics, Ulf Sverdrup, PhD, Professor, BI Norwegian Business School, Director NUPI 2011–2023 and Svein Ringbakken, MSc Law, Director/CEO, The Norwegian Shipowners' Mutual War Risks Insurance Association (DNK), Chairman Osprey Solutions, and Board Member Norma Cyber.
After the AGM and seminar followed drinks in the Hall and our lovely Annual Dinner, hosted by our chair.
Upper right photo: Marius Arkušauskas and Andrius Sutnikas from Western Baltic Engineering in Klaipėda, Lithuania with Christabelle Hoang from DNB Bank – Ocean Industries and Natalie Kim Le Nguyen from Arntzen De Besche Law Firm and chair of YoungShip Oslo.
Right: Our chairman Dr Per Olaf Brett with some of the dinner guests in the dining hall at the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association, called the General Assembly Hall.
From left: Sverre Diesen, Svein Ringbakken, Iver B. Neumann, and Uf Sverdrup.
APRIL: Our Annual Summit was held on 11–12 April at Losby Gods. The topic was “The Future of Shipping – Consequences and Implications of the Energy Transition and Shifts in Trade”. We had some 55 participants altogether.
Opening keynote speakers were Jakub Walenkiewicz, Director, Maritime Markets & Trade, DNV, on Shipping markets and trade in a time of disruption; Dr Mikael Lind, Ass. Professor, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden on Maritime trade and supply chain resilience; and Tim Smith, Director, Maritime Strategies Int Ltd., London, on Energy transition and impact on shipping demand as a consequence
Other speakers and panelists were
§ Dr Øystein Tunsjø, Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies (IFS)
§ Dr Martin Stopford, former MD of Clarkson Research, Maritime Economics (photo right)
§ Carl-Johan Hagman, NYK Group Europe
§ Jostein Bjørgo, Wilson
§ Aage Thoen, Belleza Capital Group SA
§ Kenneth Thu, Western Bulk
§ Dr Christos Chryssakis, Wallenius Wilhelmsen
§ Fredrik Dybwad, Fearnley Securities
§ Nicolai Hansteen, DNV – Maritime
§ Dr Khalid Abbas, Inland Norway University of Applied Science
§ Nassima Dzair, InterBridge
OCTOBER: Our annual Market Update Meetings were again held both in Oslo and Bergen, on 8 and 21 October, respectively.
Macro Focus: Professor Øystein Thøgersen from the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) gave a presentation on the current global macroeconomic picture, this year titled “A soft landing in a scary world - Prospects for cycles and trend growth in the global economy ”
Shipping Focus: He was followed by Ingeborg Almås, Dry bulk analyst, Market analysis, Clarksons Norway (Oslo meeting), and Nicolai Hansteen, Director Shipping Markets, DNV (Bergen meeting) with " Will there be enough newbuilding capacity?".
Sustainability Focus: The last speaker was Magnus Piene, Director, Sustainable Finance Team, DNB Markets, on “Trends observed in the sustainable finance market”.
PHOTOS: Top: Per Kristian Knutsen from Mercy Ships Norway and Elisabeth Drægebø from DNV in Bergen, also chair of Maritime Bergen. Right: Ingeborg Almås, Dry bulk analyst, Market analysis, Clarksons Norway. Below: Professor Øystein Thøgersen (NHH) at the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association.
Other things we did in 2024 (some of them)
JANUARY: A regular highlight in the otherwise dark month of January is the Executive Meeting by Maritime Insight in Gothenburg, which was held on 18 January. Our good friends there, Christopher Pålsson (photo) and Niklas Bengtsson, do an amazing job in finding relevant topics and interesting speakers - and we who participate also make a good crowd, from several countries. A truly international, yet local, event.
This year's topic was “Nothing out of the ordinary”: Conflicts, sanctions, inflation, high interest rates, recession, transition, disruption or AI, i.e., businessas-usual.” Spot on, in other words.
AUGUST: Our general manager attended the Arendalsuka 2024 in Arendal, South Norway. Arendalsuka is the largest political gathering in Norway held annually since 2012. The event’s mission is clear: strengthen the belief in political empowerment and democracy through open debate and involvement Arendalsuka takes place every year in mid-August. For 5 days, the city of Arendal is filled with an interesting and educational variety of exhibitions and events. The photo shows Tom together with Per Martin Tanggaard, professor (em.) Torger Reve, and Owe Hagesæther, CEO, GCE Ocean Technology, Bergen.
SEPTEMBER: Our general manager spoke at the 20th Maritime Conference in Tallinn, Estonia on 27 September The topic of the conference was "Smart Maritime Economy" and the topic for his presentation was “Attract, recruit and retain the best people for the maritime industry. Case: Norway”. On stage was also our board member Arnstein Eknes from DNV who spoke about the “Future of Shipping”
NOVEMBER: On 5–6 November our general manager attended the Verftskonferansen in Ålesund, the Shipyard Conference, in the shipbuilding capital of Norway. This year the main focus was on the Norwegian government’s plan for increasing the spending on defence, the so-called Long-term plan for the defence sector, which indicates a total extra spending for NOK 600bn over 12 years until 2036 Four allied nations were present to showcase their products and services; Germany, France, the UK and the USA. It was almost like attending a NATO meeting, it seemed.
BLUE SUPPLY CHAINS:
In 2016-2019 we were one of 19 partners, and the only Norwegian one, in the Go LNG project (EU/Interreg). The Lead Partner then was Klaipėda Science and Technology park. As a consequence of that, in 2022 we were invited to be the only Norwegian partner in another such project, Blue Supply Chains for the Baltic Sea Region, where the Lead Partner is Port of Hamburg Marketing in Germany
The Blue Supply Chains project supports port authorities and port operators to decarbonise port operations by advancing electrification, providing alternative fuels strategies and setting up green transport chains.
The project is all about decarbonization in ports:
1. Evaluation and piloting of measures for the further electrification of handling equipment,
2. Strategies for providing, handling and storing alternative fuel,
3. Promotion of more environmentally friendly transport chains in the hinterland, with a focus on the development of combined transport.
The target groups for the project are business support organisations, infrastructure and public service providers, and national public authorities. There are 21 partners in the project, with a total budget of EUR 4.6m, of which EUR 0.05m is the Norwegian contribution. In March 2024 all partners met for 2 days in Rostock and Trelleborg, and in September there was another partner meeting in Klaipėda, Lithuania
Our general manager participated in the first meeting, whereas our project manager Agnese Zvirbule (below, right) attended the one in Klaipėda, as well as the Portathon 2024 which followed the partner meeting.
We had a Norwegian team present, three students from OsloMet and BI Norwegian Business School, who won a prize for EUR 1,000 from the project, working on a challenge from Port of Oslo.
The Shipping Academy expanded in 2024
For many years we have been running the 1-day course “Basic Shipping and Maritime Law”, which is very popular. At the AGM in 2023 the Board presented a plan for The Shipping Academy, which included special courses in several topics, with an overall goal of the Shipping Academy:
Understanding the Shipping and Marine Ecosystem.
The general course would still be Basic Shipping and Maritime Law, but in addition we would add the following courses gradually: Ship Finance, Ship Management, Marine Insurance, Ship Technology, and Geopolitics, in addition to the course on China with Dr Josef Mondl.
So in June 2023 we introduced Ship Finance in one day. In 2024 we added one more: Ship Management in one day, and ran all three courses in May (Ship Finance and Ship Management) and November (Basic Shipping & Maritime Law). These courses will also be offered in 2025, then we will evaluate and may be add some more of the proposed courses, if we believe there is a market for them.
Ship Finance in One Day on 18 June attracted students from the following companies and entities: DNB Bank, DNV, Klaveness Ship Management, the Ministry of Climate of the Republic of Estonia, Ocean Industry Forum Oslofjord (OIFO), and SEB (Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken).
Ship Management in One Day on 25 June attracted students from the following companies and entities: Bureau Veritas, Cool Company Management, DNB Bank, Gard, Klaveness Combination Carriers, Klaveness Ship Management, Ocean Industry Forum Oslofjord (OIFO) and PGS Geophysical.
Basic Shipping & Maritime Law on 13 November attracted students from the following companies and entities: Chr. Th. Boe & Søn, DNB Bank, Gard, HAV Chartering, Höegh Evi, the Ministry of Climate of the Republic of Estonia, Ocean Industry Forum Oslofjord, OMP Capital, TGS, and Ulrik Qvale & Partners.
These courses were all orchestrated by our Course Director Tor Erik Jensen, ass. professor in Maritime Law at the University of South-Eastern Norway (USN) and lecturer at BI Norwegian Business School (BI).
Guest lecturers were Claire Koehrer Eide from BNP Paribas SA (Ship Finance) and Trond Eilertsen, chairman Gard and independent lawyer (Basic Shipping & Maritime Law).
For Ship Management his co-lecturer was Christian Hovden, also from the University of South-Eastern Norway (USN). He is Senior Lecturer, Department of Microsystems, Faculty of Technology, Natural Sciences and Maritime Studies.
Academy turnover in 2024 was NOK 202,300, down from all-time high 303,556 in 2023. This was partly due to the fact that we had to move the Ship Management course due to a strike with some unexpetced consequences for us. Then many of those who had registered for the original date could not participate.
MEMBERS
In 2024 we recruited six new members, but lost nine for various reasons. New members are:
1. Class NK (Nippon Kaiji Kyokai) (JP)
2. Copenhagen Business School (the Blue Master) (DK)
3. MariDisc BV (NL)
4. Saga Welco AS (NO)
5. SINTEF Ocean (NO)
6. Western Baltic Engineering (LT)
As of 1 January 2025, this is the membership portfolio of Shipping & Offshore Network:
FINANCIALS
The P&L for 2024 (2023) shows a total turnover of NOK 1,680,881 (1,803,782) and a profit of NOK 71,132 (28,004)
MEMBERSHIP FEE
The annual fee for 2024 was NOK 20,000, unchanged since 2011
THE BOARD 2024
Per Olaf Brett, Ulstein International AS, chairman Kjartan Bru, BNP Paribas SA Norway Branch
Arnstein Eknes, DNV AS
Frank Solberg, Sibelco Nordic AS
André Borge, Wagle Chartering AS
Helene Westfal-Larsen, Westfal-Larsen Shipping AS
Oslo, 25 February, 2025
Enclosed: P&L 2024, events overview, and our meeting programmes
PROFIT & LOSS 2024
REVENUE
OUR EVENTS IN 2024
SHIPPING & OFFSHORE NETWORK EVENTS & CO-ORGANISED EVENTS
27 February
11–12 April
27–29 September
8 October
21 October
Annual General Meeting (AGM) Norges Rederiforbund
Annual Summit 2024
Portathon 2024 (Blue Supply Chains)
Losby Gods
Klaipėda Science & Technology Park
Market Update Meeting – Oslo Norges Rederiforbund
Market Update Meeting – Bergen Grand Bergen
MARITIME OSLOFJORD ALLIANCE EVENTS
13 May
3 June
7 June
18 September
24 October
Lunch & Learn with OIFO: Avoiding pitfalls Simonsen Vogt Wiig
managing your EU ETS and MRV
Lunch meeting in collaboration with SNCC – Norges Rederiforbund Singapore Norway Chamber of Commerce (SNCC): Leading Maritime Cities of the World 2024 report what differentiates the leader Singapore over Oslo?
Breakfast Meeting and B2B with Petrobras SA Norges Rederiforbund
Breakfast meeting with Oslo Rederiforening Norges Rederiforbund
Lunch & Learn with OIFO: EU on shipping, Part 2: Simonsen Vogt Wiig FuelEU Maritime
THE SHIPPING ACADEMY. BY SHIPPING & OFFSHORE NETWORK
18 June
25 June
13 November
Ship Finance in One Day
Norges Rederiforbund
Ship Management in One Day Norges Rederiforbund
Basic Shipping & Maritime Law
There have been four board meetings in 2024.
Norges Rederiforbund
INVITATION TO GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2024 AND SEMINAR FOLLOWED BY THE ANNUAL DINNER
TUESDAY 27 FEBRUARY, 2024 AT 17.00
Norges Rederiforbund, Oslo – Free for our members –
AGENDA
17 00–18 00 General Assembly
18 00–20 00 FREEDOM OF THE SEAS
Consequences for World Seaborne Trade?
Meet four distinguished scholars and leaders: Iver B. Neumann, PhD, Director Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI) Expert on Polar and Russian Politics
Ulf Sverdrup, PhD, Professor BI Norwegian Business School Director NUPI 2011–2023
Sverre Diesen, MSc, Researcher, General (R) Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI) Former Chief of Defence of Norway
Svein Ringbakken, MSc Law, Director/CEO
The Norwegian Shipowners' Mutual War Risks Insurance Association (DNK) Chairman Osprey Solutions , Board Member Norma Cyber PANEL DEBATE + Q&A
20 00 Drinks in the Hall
20 30 Annual Dinner
GENERAL ASSEMBLY DOCUMENTS (to be distributed later )
Agenda for the General Assembly
General Assembly Documents to be distributed in the meeting:
1. The Board’s Annual Report 2023
2. Annual Accounts 2023 (see Annual Report)
3. Budget for 2024
4. The Election Committee’s nominations and the Board’s nomination for Election Committee
5. Statutes for Shipping & Offshore Network (in Norwegian)
ANNUAL SUMMIT 2024
at Losby Gods, Thursday 11 and Friday 12 April
THE FUTURE OF SHIPPING
Consequences and implications of the energy transition & shifts in trade
Jakub Walenkiewicz, DNV • Mikael Lind, RISE, Gothenburg • Tim Smith, MSI, London
Øystein Tunsjø, Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies • Arnstein Eknes, DNV
Martin Stopford, London • Carl-Johan Hagman, NYK Group Europe, London
Jostein Bjørgo, Wilson, Bergen • Aage Thoen, Belleza Capital Group, Panama
Kenneth Thu, Western Bulk, Oslo • Christos Chryssakis, Wallenius Wilhelmsen, Oslo
Fredrik Dybwad, Fearnley Securities, Oslo • Nicolai Hansteen and Mathias Sørhaug, DNV
Khalid Abbas, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences • Nassima Dzair, InterBridge
www.shippingoffshorenetwork.no
MARKET UPDATE AUTUMN 2024
Tuesday 8 October, 11.30–15.30 (incl. lunch) Norges Rederiforbund, Rådhusgata 25
11.30 REGISTRATION & LUNCH
12.00 MACRO FOCUS
A soft landing in a scary world - Prospects for cycles and trend growth in the global economy Øystein Thøgersen, Professor of Economics, NHH
13.15 COFFEE BREAK
13 30 SHIPPING FOCUS
Will there be enough newbuilding capacity? Dry Bulk, Tanker, Container, Offshore Wind, PCTCs Ingeborg Almås, Dry bulk analyst, Market analysis, Clarksons Norway
14 15 SUSTAINABILITY FOCUS
Trends observed in the sustainable finance market Magnus Piene, Director, Sustainable Finance Team, DNB Markets
15.00 Q&A SESSION
15.30 END OF MEETING
REGISTER HERE BY THURSDAY 3 OCTOBER
Members of Shipping & Offshore Network and the Maritime Oslofjord Alliance free of charge. Non-members will be invoiced NOK 1,200
MARKET UPDATE AUTUMN 2024
Monday 21 October, 11.30–15.30 (incl. lunch) Grand Bergen, Nedre Ole Bulls plass 1, Bergen
11.30 REGISTRATION & LUNCH
12.00 MACRO FOCUS
A soft landing in a scary world - Prospects for cycles and trend growth in the global economy Øystein Thøgersen, Professor of Economics, NHH
13.15 COFFEE BREAK
13 30 SHIPPING FOCUS
Will there be enough newbuilding capacity Dry Bulk, Tanker, Container, Offshore Wind, PCTCs Nicolai Hansteen, Director Shipping Markets, DNV - Maritime
14 15 SUSTAINABILITY FOCUS
Trends observed in the sustainable finance market Magnus Piene, Director, Sustainable Finance Team, DNB Markets
15.00 Q&A SESSION
15.30 END OF MEETING
REGISTER HERE BY THURSDAY 17 OCTOBER
Members of Shipping & Offshore Network and the Maritime Oslofjord Alliance free of charge. Non-members will be invoiced NOK 1,200
www.shippingoffshorenetwork no
in collaboration with Singapore-Norway Chamber of Commerce (SNCC) kindly invite you to a lunch meeting, free for our members
Leading Maritime Cities of the World 2024 reportwhat differentiates the leader Singapore over Oslo?
Monday 3 June 2024, 11.30–13 00 at Norges Rederiforbund, Rådhusgata 25
We are excited to invite you to a special presentation of the "Leading Maritime Cities of the World Report 2024," which will follow SNCC’s AGM at 10.30–11.30. The report was launched on 15 April in Singapore.
The meeting is a collaboration between the Maritime Oslofjord Alliance and Singapore-Norway Chamber of Commerce (SNCC) and will feature a presentation by Dr. Erik W. Jakobsen from Menon Economics AS
This comprehensive analysis, which has been published regularly by Menon Economics and DNV since 2015, benchmarks some 15,000 cities on a variety of indicators, including the green transition. Impressively, Singapore continues to lead the ranking, while Oslo makes a notable ascent to 5th place, due to its strong position within technology, finance and law.
PROGRAMME
Introduction by the organisers
Tom O. Kleppestø, General Manager, Maritime Oslofjord Alliance
Erik Borgen, Chair, SNCC
Leading Maritime Cities of the World Report 2024 – some key highlights
Dr. Erik W. Jakobsen, Partner and Chair, Menon Economics AS
Q&A session
The lunch meeting is free for members of Oslo Rederiforening, Ocean Industry Forum Oslofjord (OIFO), Shipping & Offshore Network, and SNCC. Others will be invoiced NOK 800.
Register HERE no later than Wednesday 29 May at 15.00
www.maritimeoslofjord.no
Oslo Rederiforening, together with Ocean Industry Forum Oslofjord and Shipping & Offshore Network, invite you to have breakfast with
Meet their commercial delegation on Friday 7 June to discuss the green shift. They have already visited Ålesund, Bergen, and Haugesund on their way.
Breakfast will be served from 08.00 whereas the meeting is at 09.00–10.30
In the meeting Petrobras will present their plans for the Brazilian continental shelf and initiate a dialogue on how best to promote the green shift. The company is thinking of retrofitting their existing fleet operating in Brazil, as well as newbuilds.
FROM THEIR WEBSITE: Petrobras is one of the largest oil and gas producers in the world, mainly dedicated to exploration and production, refining, energy generation and marketing. Petrobras has expertise in exploration and production in deep and ultra-deep waters as a result of almost 50 years of developing Brazil’s offshore basins, leader worldwide in this segment. The company´s priority is to operate at low costs and with low carbon emissions, reinforcing its commitment to sustainable development for a just energy transition in Brazil. Petrobras’ ambition is to neutralize emissions (scopes 1 and 2) in the activities under its control by 2050.
PROGRAMME
08:00 Breakfast will be served in the Hall on the 7th floor
09:00 Welcome by the organisers
Oslo Shipowners’ Association: The Green Shift in Norway’s maritime industry Petrobras SA: Their presentation and invitation to a dialogue
10:30 End of breakfast meeting; time for B2B meetings with selected companies
The meeting is organised in close collaboration with the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association and is for members of Oslo Shipowners’ Association and the rest of the Maritime Oslofjord Alliance: Ocean Industry Forum Oslofjord (OIFO) and Shipping & Offshore Network Register to the Secretary at tom@kleppesto.no no later than Tuesday 4 June at 15.00
LUNCH & LEARN #1/24
Avoiding pitfalls managing your EU ETS and MRV*
Monday 13 May 2024 at 11.30-13.00
Advokatfirmaet Simonsen Vogt Wiig, Filipstad Brygge 1, Oslo
The speakers will share experience addressing legal and operational perspective. This will cover contractual models, legal and practical set up managing ETS.
Presenters are Yannis Litinas, Partner and Solicitor (England & Wales) Simonsen Vogt Wiig, and Helge Hermundsgård, Business Development Manager – Maritime, DNV.
Q&A moderated by Tom O. Kleppestø, CEO, OIFO and the Maritime Oslofjord Alliance
Registration HERE by Friday 10 May at 15.00. The meeting is free for our members.
*MRV = The annual procedure for Monitoring, Reporting and Verifying
LUNCH & LEARN #2/24 EU on shipping, Part 2: FuelEU Maritime
Thursday 24 Oct. 2024 at 11.30-13.00
Advokatfirmaet Simonsen Vogt Wiig, Filipstad Brygge 1, Oslo
1. The mechanism of FuelEU Maritime
2. The administration of the FuelEU Maritime and the repercussions in the shipping operations
