Celebrating 50 Years of Cutting Edge Maritime Services

The Thome Group, the first independent third party ship manager to establish in Singapore, celebrates its 50th anniversary in Oslo this evening, with a harbor cruise and a well-attended gala dinner at the Norwegian Maritime Museum.

Incorporated in Singapore in 1963 as Thome Co. Pte Ltd by Norwegian Fridtjov Thome and establishing Thome Ship Management’s Singapore headquarters in 1976, the Thome Group has grown to represent a unique combination of the best elements of Norwegian shipping tradition with the modern drive of Asian business enterprise.

Since the early days of 1963 and through generations of family experience, the Thome Group has grown to be recognised as one of the world's leading independent international ship managers with more than 300 vessels either crewed or under full technical management serviced by 550 shore staff and 10,000 crew members.

From full scope ship management to offshore structure management, port agency, vessel inspection and crew training, Thome offers a complete range of services & products under one roof.

In more recent times, Thome Group, with its roots solid based in Norway, has successfully expanded its core business. This includes growing the global footprint of its ship agency business arm as a seamlessly move into the offshore oil and gas sector. Likewise has its maritime consultancy division scored notable successes in the area of newbuilding supervision.

Thome Group Chairman and Group Chief Executive Officer Olav Eek Thorstensen spoke about what he would like the company to achieve in the next few years and beyond.

He said: “Thome Group has come a long way in recent years. We are proud of our Norwegian ancestry and we continue to work with many Norwegian principals as actively promote Norway and Norwegian interests consistently in Singapore and the rest of Asia. The Norwegian brand is strong and recognized globally”.

“The major recent developments include the creation of Thome Oil and Gas and our decision to expand our presence overseas. While Singapore remains our home base, and Manila our main crewing and training centre, more recently we have extended our global reach via new offices and joint ventures, not least the building up of our presence here in Norway and in Denmark.”

Oslo based Business Development Manager for Norway and USA, Sverre Ditlev-Simonsen, said: "Today Thome is widely recognized in the international ship owning community as a world class provider of high quality ship management services. By building on Thome's competence, global network and strong reputation, we seek to expand also our offshore-related client base”

Sverre Ditlev-Simonsen adds: “Many OSV and rig owners can without doubt benefit from our lean concept. We believe that we will be able to further elevate an already well recognised service offering for our existing and potential partners here in Norway, including financial investors active within the shipping & offshore segment. Furthermore, our ambition is to assist non-traditional shipping investors reach their goals, by serving as their own technical department.”

He said: “We will continue to grow at an accelerated rate as long as we see the business potential to do so with the priority being to expand in places where we have existing offices and relationships. The Norwegian Maritime cluster remains a key strategic focal market for us”

Olav Eek Thorstensen added that the global shipping market would most likely continue to face a tough time for the rest of 2013 and even into 2014, although things look brighter for a few segments.

He said: “The overall outlook remains hard for global shipping. Owners rightly continue to seek value from the managers they entrust with their assets”.

“At Thome we shall continue to deliver the highest quality management service with the focus on safety, cost and a flawless operation.”

He said one of the aspects of Thome’s development has been the continuous high level of investment in training and education, and this will continue in 2013 and beyond.

“We firmly believe in our Human Element concept. Our focus remains on developing our shore-based and sea-going talent as this is something which truly sets us apart from our competitors,” he added.