From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Stena sphere is a conglomerate with three parent companies, Stena Metall AB, Stena Sessan AB and Stena AB and is based in Gothenburg in Sweden. It is wholly owned by the Olsson family. The chief executive officer of the group is Dan Sten Olsson the son of the founder.

Contents 1 Stena AB 2 Stena Sessan AB 3 Stena Metall AB 4 History 5 External links

Amongst its subsidiaries:

• Stena Line is a European ferry company operating ferries in the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and Irish Sea. The chief executive officer of Stena Line is Gunnar Blomdahl.
• Stena Drilling is a maritime drilling contractor based in Aberdeen.
• Stena Rederi AB supports and coordinates the shipping activities in Stena AB.
• Stena RoRo AB builds, purchases, sells and charters RoRo vessels. Many of Stena Line's vessels are owned by Stena RoRo. Christer Schoug has been the managing director Since 15 May 2006.
• Stena Bulk operates a fleet of tankers worldwide.
• Stena Teknik is a central resource for expertise in ship building and ship conversions within the Stena Sphere.
• Northern Marine Management is a ship management company and ship manning agency. Their head office is in Glasgow.
• Stena Fastigheter is a property company. The company manages and owns real estate in Sweden and commercial property in the Netherlands and France. The current managing director (2006) is Christel Armstrong Darvik.
• Stena International B.V. is a, Dutch, property owning, subsidiary.
• AB Stena Finans is the treasury and asset management entity for the whole Stena organisation. It is located in both Gothenburg and Switzerland.
• Stena Adactum acquires and develops other companies. The managing director is Martin Svalstedt.

Sessanlinjen (Sessan Line) or G.F.L. (Göteborg-Fredrikshavns line) was purchased by Stena in 1980. It ended the severe competition that existed in the Kattegat between Sessan Line and Stena Line up to that time. One of its subsidiaries is;

• Concordia Maritime AB which operates a fleet of 14 modern tankers. It is a public company of about 6000 shares with Stena Sphere, through Stena Sessan AB, being the principal shareholder.

Stena Metall recycles and processes metals, paper, electronics, hazardous waste and chemicals. Its operations also include international trading in steel, metals and oil. It is the oldest part of the Stena Sphere having been founded on November 18, 1939. It has operations in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Poland, Russia and the USA.

The Stena group was founded by Sten Allan Olsson in 1939 when he started his own company, Sten A. Olsson Metallprodukter with a loan of Kr 25,000 from Svenska Handelsbanken, guaranteed by his father and uncle. In 1941 he bought Maskinaffären Generator AB, which sold second hand steam boilers and machinery. When demand exceeded supply he started manufacturing them.
In 1946 he went to England and bought two trawlers and two minesweepers. The minesweepers had motor machinery, the trawlers had boilers. The boilers were sold and the minesweepers scrapped, and the trawlers were converted into cargo ships. This was the beginning of the Stena fleet. In 1962 Sten Olsson chartered a ship to run between Gothenburg and Skagen, and then later from Gothenburg to Frederikshavn. With these small starts this grew to become Stena Line.
Stena Offshore was created in 1976 and grew until it was sold for Kr 37 Billion in 2000. The drilling fleet remained and is now Stena Drilling.
The Stena group has made a profit every year since 1939 and has grown to include the largest ferry company in the world.

• Stena Sphere
• Stena Line Main web site for Stena Line.
• Stena Line UK Stena Line's UK site.
• Stena Line Ireland
• Stena Line NL Stena Line's Dutch site.
• Stena Drilling
• Stena RoRo
• Stena Bulk
• Northern Marine Management
• Stena Fastigheter
• Stena Adactum
• Stena Sessan
• Stena Metall
• Concordia Maritime AB