Wallenius Wilhelmsen history

One person who read this message was the founder's eldest son, Halfdan, born in 1864.

In 1865 he purchased two-seventh share in the barque MATHILDE and that marks the beginning of WW as a shipowning firm.

His exceptional business talent was evident from an early age, and he was the driving force behind the purchase of the company's first steam freighter TALABOT in 1887.

As early as 1901 WW began to take an interst in regular liner service, but there was always an element of natural caution.

However, 1911 proved to be a memorable year: the firm Fearnley & Eger and Wilh.

The first tanker SAN JOAQUIN of 10.360 dwt. was handed over in 1913.

By 1918, WW had taken delivery of no less than ten oil carriers, representing 92% of Norway's entire tanker fleet at the end of World War I. And by that time the company had moved their head office to Oslo.

In 1920 WW took over the sole management of Norwegian Africa and Australia Line and the Norway Mexico Gulf Line and it was at that time that the familiar title Wilhelmsen Lines was introduced.

In 1969 WW, Fearnley & Eger and A.F. Klaveness came together and established Barber Lines.

However, the war between Iran and Iraq in 1979 led to a total collapse in the trade to Middle East, seriously affecting the profitability of the expensive ro-ro fleet.

They were en route from Oslo to Hamburg to attend the naming ceremony for a new addition to the ro-ro fleet. It was a terrible shock to all WW employees and a blow to the promising development of Wilhelmsen Lines when 50 employees, half the staff of Wilhelmsen Lines' office staff in Oslo, lost their lives when a chartered aircraft crashed on 8 September 1989.

Dubai re-open Wallenius Lines establishes its own representative in Dubai and re-opens traffic in the Gulf in partnership with Japan's NYK line after a two-year suspension on account of the Gulf War in 1991.

Glassman & Kenny (1994) opens in a new window

The offshore drilling activities in Wilrig were sold, and in 1995 WW moved to new headquarters at Lysaker, outside Oslo.

EUKOR was founded in 2002, when Scandinavian shipping companies Wilh.

Ambulation Aids & Assistive Devices 2007 opens in a new window