The history of Bergen Tankers dates back to 1965, when Mr. Olav Haugland started “Haugland Bunkerservice” - a supplier of bunkers and lubricants in Bergen. Competition was fierce also back then, and Haugland Bunkerservice was one of 11 suppliers in Bergen.

After hard work and efforts to establish as a strong player in Bergen, “Bergen Tankers” was founded in 1991, where Mr. Haugland now acts as the Chairman of the Board.

In the early years of the company, Bergen Tankers operated a fleet of 3 vessels ranging from 300 DWT to 600 DWT on spot and CoA’s for their main clients Esso, BP, Shell, Hydro, and Statoil along the Norwegian Coast.

In 1995 the business expanded into the chemical and specialised marked, entering a longterm Timecharter with GC Rieber, operating in North West Europe.

The main area of business had always been on the Norwegian Coast, but the Timcharter with GC Rieber opened new doors, and in 1999 the fleet was ranging from 300 dwt to 2500 DWT vessels, and operating on both spot and CoA’s with CPP and chemicals within ports in North West Europe.

In 2003 Bergen Tankers concluded a long-term Timecharter Agreement with Statoil (now Equinor) for two newbuildings, namely “Bergen Star” and “Bergen Nordic” - with a capacity of carrying 4000-5000 CBM. A milestone for the company, and which secured stable business and new opportunities for growth going forward.

From 2003 until the next newbuilding program started in 2007, Bergen Tankers acquired the bunkering activity in Oslofjorden from Shell, and bunkering of “Color Line” became regular business.

Along with the bunkering activity in Oslofjorden and a longterm CoA with “Hurtigruten” in Bergen, Bergen Tankers signed a contract for building two barges at Nevsky Shipbuilding in St Petersburg, Russia. The barges “Bergen Tank” and “Oslo Tank” were delivered in 2010, and represented a new type of quality vessels for the bunkering-fleet in Norway.

In 2009 the company purchased both “Bergen Faith” which entered a Timecharter with Esso, and “Bergen Troll” which entered a Timecharter with Shell. Later in 2010, “Bergen Viking”, built in 2007, was purchased and entered a longterm contract with Shell, where she replaced “Bergen Troll”. “Bergen Viking” traded frequently between ports in Denmark, Sweden and Norway prior to entering a new longterm Timecharter with Equinor.

Bergen Tankers have always had a focus on the environment and safety, together with a desire to be in front of development in the market and the industry. To mention some of the measures taken; we installed catalaysators (SCR) in 2008 on our coastal traders which reduces NOX emissions with 90%, our barges are able to connect and use shore electricity, and we converted “Bergen Viking” from using MGO to LNG fuel in 2015, as the first pure LNG-driven tanker in the world. The LNG conversion reduced CO2 emissions by 20%, NOx by 90% and particles by 100%.

Our latest project in 2019 is to rebuild one of our smallest barges, “Oslo Tank”, from being a conventional bunker fuel barge into a LNG-barge with a carrying capacity of 850 CBM LNG – as first of its kind in Norway.

With a long history and a continuous strong presence in our markets, we are very excited to see what the future brings!