Shipping & Offshore Network

19/03/2026

ANNUAL SUMMIT 2026 is ready for you at LLosby Godsin Oslo, Norway, on 16 and 17 April, discussing "Prospects for Maritime Transport", looking into the growing complexity of being a shipowner.

Annual Summit is our flagship event and is by some people who attend for the first time called a "hidden gem". So let's unhide it!

Meet our distinguished speakers from Norway and abroad, and take part in the group work we introduced last year:

Audun Kolstad Wiig, Subject Matter Expert Geopolitical Risk, DDNB
Martijn Bergink, President, Marine Division Alfa Laval, and CEO of Framo

Dr Jan Hoffmann, Global Lead, Maritime Transport and Ports, WWorld Bank Group
Kjartan Bru, Head of Transportation Capital Markets Nordics, BBNP Paribas
Elisabeth Holvik, Chief economist, SSpareBank 1 Østlandet
Valland Anders Valland, Research Manager, SINTEF Ocean

Ronald Spithout, Managing Director, OOneHealthby Vikand LLC, USA

Martin Crawford-Brunt, CEO, Lookout Maritime, London

Dr Paula Doyle, CDO, Aker BP ASA

and last, but not least,

Mr Sveinung Oftedal, our Pre-Dinner Speaker, who will talk about "Three decades of building future resilient shipping – perspectives from the regulator."

OR: The insider story of what really happened at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) that day.

Read more and register here: https://www.shippingoffshorenetwork.no/events/annual-summit-2026/

25/02/2026

OUR ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2026 took place on 24 February, at the Norges Rederiforbund as always.

Our entire board opted for reelection and were indeed reelected, so we are happy to announce that the Board for 2026 consists of

Per Olaf Brett (chair) from ULSTEIN International AS
André Borge from Wagle Chartering AS
Kjartan Bru from BNP Paribas Norway
Arnstein Eknes from DNV AS
Ole Jacob Person from Pareto Maritime Services AS
Frank Solberg from IntelliMar Consulting AS
Helene Westfal-Larsen from Westfal-Larsen Shipping AS

Our course director Mr Tor Erik Jensen presented , which plans to launch another course this year, in Shipbuilding and Retrofit, from an owners' perspective.

Our seminar was titled "Global shipping in turbulent wartimes - with special focus on security, tariffs and trade". Our eminent speakers were:

Andreas von der Heide from Consilio International, Stockholm
Anne Gry Reitan Ringen from Crown Defenze, Oslo
and Nicolai Hansteen from DNV

After the interesting and thought provoking seminar, we enjoyed drinks and our lovely annual dinner and forgot about the scary world outside for a few hours.

Or, quoting Andreas von der Heide, a world full of opportunities.

It was good to have Dilek Ayhan there to talk about her Ocean House Collective initiative, and to have the younger generation represented; Anders Kårbø Rong is co-founder and chair of NJORD - Maritime Studentforening.

08/04/2025

ANNUAL SUMMIT 2025 IS A WRAP: Annual Summit 2025 took place at Losby Gods on Thursday 3 and Friday 4 April, titled SURVIVAL IN A POLARIZING WORLD

Maritime transportation serves as the main artery of global trade. Intricate networks of shipping firms, routes, ports, combined with maritime competitiveness, have enabled for globalisation and strengthened the interconnectedness of the world economy. However, the sector is facing numerous challenges that threaten maritime transportation as we know it today, including its competitiveness, resilience and sustainability.

Shipping & Offshore Network cordially invited to join us to discuss and explore the above dire topic creating an arena for deep reflection, better understanding and inspiration for a prosperous future for maritime transportation. And that is exactly what we did at this year's summit, which took place during some sunny and beautiful days indeed.

Our speakers were:

Hassiba Benamara, UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Geneva

Dr. Martin Stopford, London

Ernst Meyer, CEO, Torvald Klaveness, Oslo

Helene Tofte, Executive Director, Norwegian Shipowners'​ Association (Norges Rederiforbund)

Dagfinn Lunde, co-founder and chairman, eShipfinance, Cyprus

Ronald Spithout, Managing Director, OneHealth by VIKAND Solutions, USA

Guy Hindley, Dry Cargo Managing Partner, Howe Robinson Partners, London

Fredrik Dybwad, Equity Research Analyst, Fearnley Securities , Oslo

Nicolai Hansteen, Director Shipping Markets, DNV - Maritime, Oslo

Dr. Estela Vázquez Esmerode, Programme Manager, Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, Copenhagen

Dr. Jan Emblemsvåg, professor, Norwegian University of Science and Technology - NTNU i Ålesund

Unni Einemo, Marine Regulations Lead, Core Power Ltd., London

See photos attached and note the dates for our next Annual Summit to take place at Losby Gods on Thursday 16 and Friday 17 April, 2026 - welcome!

26/02/2025

AGM 2025 SUCCESSFUL: Our AGM was held on Tuesday 25 February, 2025, with the usual agenda: AGM followed by a seminar on geopolitics, followed by aperitif and our Annual Dinner for our members.

The AGM went according to plan; our P&L for 2024 showing a total turnover of NOK 1,680,881 with a net and all-time high profit of NOK 71,132 was approved.

The entire board was re-elected, i.e. Dr Per Olaf Brett continues as chair, with fellow board members Arnstein Eknes, Kjartan Bru, André Borge, Helene Westfal-Larsen and Frank Solberg. Our auditor Ståle Raastad Hansen was also re-elected. Tor Erik Jensen, the programme director for our Shipping Academy, presented the upcoming three courses in May and November: Ship Finance, Ship Management and Basic Shipping & Maritime Law.

The seminar was titled "Why is the world getting so complicated? Consequences for seaborne trade" - a title which was selected before President Donald J. Trump took office, and which has become highly relevant during the last few weeks. Good then to have some real experts to talk about it, with the two professors Janne Haaland Matlary and Ulf Sverdrup, both of whom have been with us before. They offered somewhat different perspectives as to what seems to be going on in the USA and we all learnt a lot from their presentations and the discussion which followed.

Then last, but not least, there was the Annual Dinner, which took our minds off the uncertain reality out there for a few hours.

Our Annual Report 2024 can be found here: https://issuu.com/tomkleppesto/docs/son_annual_report_2024?fr=sN2E0YTYzMDkzNDQ

18/11/2024

PORTS FOR THE FUTURE: We are proud that Shipping & Offshore Network is the Norwegian partner in the Interreg Baltic Sea Region project Blue Supply Chains with Port of Hamburg Marketing as Lead Partner.

This is an article about the project published on the Norwegian Interreg website on 13 November, 2024. Thanks to them and good luck to all of us partners in the project, which by now is more or less half way done - which means still much to do.

Havner i frontlinjen for klimakampen Havner har alltid vært hjørnesteiner for økonomisk og sosial utvikling. Fra å være knutepunkt for sjøfarten har de også blitt viktige aktører i miljøspørsmål. Men…

13/11/2024

Norge tar en viktig rolle i Blue Supply Chains-prosjektet for en grønnere fremtid. Blue Supply Chains (BSC)-prosjektet driver frem den grønne revolusjonen i Østersjøregionens havner, med mål om nullutslipp og bærekraftig drift. Med EUs ambisiøse klimamål i sikte, samarbeider Norge med syv andre land i regionen.

Gjennom pilotprosjekter – som elektrifisering av havnedrift og grønn transportstrategi – vil BSC vise at det er mulig å kutte utslippene uten å senke tempoet i økonomien.

Shipping & Offshore Network er den norske partneren i dette prosjektet, som ledes av Port of Hamburg Marketing. Vi vil også arrangere en konferanse for å utforske hvordan norske havner, spesielt i , kan implementere suksessene fra BSC. Prosjektet gir verdifull læring for norske havner og åpner døren for videre grønn innovasjon.

Sammen kan vi gjøre havnene våre til klimavennlige knutepunkt!

Havner i frontlinjen for klimakampen Havner har alltid vært hjørnesteiner for økonomisk og sosial utvikling. Fra å være knutepunkt for sjøfarten har de også blitt viktige aktører i miljøspørsmål. Men…

26/04/2024

SHIP MANAGEMENT IN ONE DAY: The Shipping Academy. By Shipping & Offshore Network is very pleased to announce a new 1-day course in Ship Management, based on the 2-days internal one we did for Kongsberg Maritime and Kongsberg Digital in December last year. So if you are in our target group for this course (see below), or know someone who might be, you know what to do.

As always, the course takes place in our classy house at the Norges Rederiforbund, the date is Tuesday 28 May from 09.00-16.00. We can guarantee you an insightful day full of fun, learning, new friends and network, and knowledge that will

Our programme director Tor Erik Jensen brings his colleague from Universitetet i Sørøst-Norge (USN), ass. prof. Christian Hovden along, as he also did last time, with great success.

TARGET GROUP: The target group for this course is all employees in the shipping industry, those working in related industries, as well as those taking an interest in shipping and who are eager to understand the basic legal aspects of buying, selling and chartering of ships.

Our ambition is to develop an understanding of why commercial, legal and technical knowledge is required when managing ships world-wide. A successful interplay is essential if to achieve safety for property, people and the environment.

This knowledge is valuable for a variety of employees. Whether you work within ship management, chartering, finance & accounting, or other functions within the maritime industry cluster, such as classification, banking, broking, P&I, / H&M-insurance etc.

So read more here and register today, or send an email to me on [email protected]

1-day course in ship management

15/04/2024

ANNUAL SUMMIT 2024 A SUCCESS: On Thursday 11 and Friday 12 April, 2024, Losby Gods was indeed the place to be for anyone in the shipping and maritime industry, where some 55 executives, middle managers, two MSc finance students from BI Norwegian Business School and Per Kristian Knutsen from Mercy Ships Norge (formerly 17 years with Wilhelmsen group) gathered to discuss "The Future of Shipping - Consequences and implications of energy transition and shifts in trade". And to exchange ideas, thoughts and experience.

The speakers list was phenomenal. We had speakers and participants from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, and the UK, with Dr Martin Stopford, author of Maritime Economics and decades long director of Clarksons Research, and Mr Carl-Johan Hagman, the Swedish shipping executive, who has before lived 25 years in Asia, now the CEO for NYK Group Europe Limited and the only non-Japanese in the Executive Team of 31 men, as our two global superstars.

We also learnt from Nassima Dzair that our participants spanned across 4 generational groups: Baby Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y (Millenials), and, thanks to the two students Romina Mehdian and Amalie Victoria Bertheussen, Gen Z.

These were our speakers:
Jakub Walenkiewicz, DNV - Maritime, Oslo
Dr Mikael Lind, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden
Tim Smith, Maritime Strategies International, London
Dr Øystein Tunsjø, Institutt for forsvarsstudier - Forsvarets høgskole (Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies), Oslo
Arnstein Eknes, DNV, Oslo
Dr Martin Stopford, London
Carl-Johan Hagman, NYK Group Europe Ltd, London
Jostein Bjørgo, Wilson ASA, Bergen
Aage Thoen, Belleza Capital Group, Panama
Dr Christos Chryssakis, Wallenius Wilhelmsen, Oslo
Fredrik Dybwad, Fearnley Securities , Oslo
Nicolai Hansteen and Mathias Sørhaug, DNV, Oslo
Dr Khalid Abbas, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences
Nassima Dzair, InterBridge AS

If you want to know more, see the presentations or become a member of our network, please contact us on [email protected]

11/03/2024

BLUE SUPPLY CHAINS ON THE GO: As the Norwegian partner in the Interreg Baltic Sea Region project Blue Supply Chains, with Port of Hamburg Marketing as the Lead Partner, we had the pleasure of attending the 3rd All Partner Meeting on 5 and 6 March, 2024.

It took place in Rostock Port, on the Stena AB ferry MF Skåne between Rostock and in Trelleborgs Hamn AB(Port of Trelleborg) - all the three are project partners, so that was easy.

MF Skåne is the last ferry to carry trains in the Baltic Sea; she can take as much as 1,000 metres of train on board. So we watched while the train that had just arrived was disembarked in Rostock.

All in all a very interesting meeting, nice to catch up with old and new partners.

As always, thank you Inga Gurries, Stefan Breitenbach and Gunnar Platz for organizing the project in general and these partner meetings in particular!

Read more about the project here: https://interreg-baltic.eu/project/bluesupplychains/

31/01/2024

FREEDOM OF THE SEAS - Consequences for World Seaborne Trade?

Our Annual General Meeting 2024 takes place on Tuesday 27 February at Norges Rederiforbund, where you will meet four brilliant scholars and leaders who will discuss current world affairs.

Even though this is primarily for our members, anyone who has an interest in shipping and world affairs is welcome to register their attendance, so welcome!

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18/10/2023

1-DAY COURSE: BEYOND THE CHINA DREAM ON 2 NOVEMBER

Dear all, in all industries, not only the maritime: On Thursday 2 November "The Shipping Academy. By Shipping & Offshore Network" invites you to a day full of learning about China - its history, its present and its visions for the future - with a reality check for what happens right now.

This course will open your eyes for why China act as they do, and will give you an idea of how they foresee themselves and their role in the future.

Everyone with an interest for China (and indeed the world as we once knew it) is welcome!

The purpose of this one-day course is to let participants understand the basic historical, cultural and political found-ations of China’s breathtaking develop-ment since the beginning of the 1980s up to this day. Furthermore, the findings and analysis of this course will be used to provide partici...

17/09/2023

BLUE SUPPLY CHAINS PROJECT PARTNER MEETING 2 took place in Gothenburg on 13–14 September, 2023. It was great to meet our partners again and to be able to share some relevant information, like Maritime Battery Forum and the report released in June 2022 by the called "Energy Transition in Shipping - Facts and Timeline". You can find that here: https://maritimeoslofjord.no/2022/06/16/release-of-our-report-energy-transition-in-shipping-facts-and-timeline/

is an (Baltic Sea Region) project, co-funded by (parts of) Norway, with some 20 partners including us.

A big thank you to Camilla Sundqvist for organizing the meeting on behalf of Lindholmen Science Park, and to our great Port of Hamburg Marketing with Inga Gurries, Stefan Breitenbach and Gunnar Platz for running a tight ship, in the very much appreciated

And once again thank you to Andrius Sutnikas and Klaipeda Science and Technology Park (KMTP) for being our close partner for so many years and in so many ways.

You may read more about the project here: https://interreg-baltic.eu/project/bluesupplychains/