Norway's interwar tanker expansion : a reappraisal

Abstract

The topic of the article is the Norwegian expansion within oil tanker shipping in the interwar period, which is analysed on the basis of new empirical evidence. By means of a purpose-built database, the basis for the expansion is analysed and traditional accounts of the growth of Norwegian tanker shipping are challenged and modified. Previously, the purchase of second-hand tankers from Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Co. has been seen as the most important basis for the growth of Norwegian tanker shipping. This article claims that the Anglo-Saxon tankers were relatively unimportant. The dynamic relationship between Oslo-based shipowners, primarily companies without previous experience from the tanker industry, and foreign, in particular Swedish, yards is the key to understanding the development.