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Humble beginnings lead to success on the seven seas One of the grandest success stories in Swedish business began when 19-year-old Sten Olsson began a scrap metal business in 1939. He succeeded with that first venture and entered every business opportunity that excited him. Shortly after the Second World War, Olsson bought his first small ship to ferry passengers between Denmark and Sweden. All that has since grown into the multinational Stena group.
Drive and vision have come together for Stena again with its spectacularly successful introduction of what have been described as the world’s safest, most versatile and cost-efficient tankers – the Stena VMax and CMax tankers. Those ships were developed to increase payload capacity while being able to enter more shallow ports. And they have done so. The tankers also result in savings of between 15 to 30 cents per barrel, while also introducing breakthroughs in maneuverability and safety. The secret lay in designing a double-hulled ship, making them much wider and thereby reducing draft and enabling the introduction of two complete drive systems to power them. The use of two separate power generation, engine, drive, steering, bridge and navigation, propeller, and rudder systems not only guarantees redundancy in case of accidents or breakdowns but also greatly increases their maneuverability to avoid accidents. This means that Stena can deliver more oil more safely than ever before to even more ports around the world. Recent major accidents involving oil tankers have impressed upon the industry the importance of taking responsible steps forward in transportation. Stena’s innovations are thus becoming increasingly important. The innovations have not been limited to tanker design but span the entire length and breadth of the company. “Stena, throughout its history, has been dedicated to research and development driven by the belief that we must lead the way in discovering how to bring benefits to our customers,” Ryder says. “Because we have led the way in service, quality and safety, the current industry concerns with environmental impact and responsibility mean that Stena is the best choice. And by providing such an impressively innovative and customer-orientated service, we’ve successfully developed an operation that is always economically competitive,” he also says. Ryder himself embodies the hands-on, open and practical nature of the company unique in an industry known for its traditional mentalities and obsession with hierarchy. The tanker company’s president emphasizes how the entire company has always been involved in the process of innovation and quality service. “We have crews who take pride in their ships, are happy with their work and end up doing the best job for our clients, “ he explains. “We do the best job for our customers. We listen to them and know what they need.” |
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Ulf G. Ryder, president of Stena