About

Havila Shipping is a leading supplier of quality assured supply services to the international offshore industry, and our ambition is to still be at the forefront of this industry.

We are committed to the highest quality standards for our operations, and a high percentage of long-term contracts with leading offshore companies, prove that we succeed in meeting these standards. 

Havila Shipping is located in Fosnavåg on the west coast of Norway. The company is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange and operates 14 vessels within subsea construction, platform supply and multi-field rescue recovery services. Achieved through a focus on solid earnings, safe operations, and human resources. In addition, we have management for six ships.

A boys dream

And it all started with a boy and his dream. At 12, he started working every other day on a small fishing boat. Four years later, he made enough money to buy his first boat.

The boy’s name was Per Sævik, the founder of Havila. He first becomes a skipper on his father’s fishing boat, and then in the 1970s, on his own fishing boat. In 1981, he buys his first offshore vessel and starts building one of the first major offshore companies in Norway.


Sævik Supply

Havila has its foundation from the ocean. The start was in fishing back in the 1950s.

The knowledge about seamanship and crew and ship operations was taken further in 1981, when Per Sævik buys his first offshore vessel, as he starts building one of the first major offshore companies in Norway; Sævik Supply.

In 1997, Sævik Supply had grown into Norway’s second largest offshore shipping company. Eventually, it was acquired by the US company Trico Marine, but the same year sees the start of a new chapter, Havila Supply.

The name is drawn from the First Book of Moses: Genesis. There, it mentions a country near the Garden of Eden, called Havila. It is the land where the gold is good.

Njål Sævik, the eldest son of founder Per Sævik, joined the new company’s management team and he is today the CEO of Havila Shipping.

New opportunities

The company’s logo is a mooring bolt. The image conveys the idea of secure attachment, but also of casting off. It signals the start of new adventures. New opportunities. And in the centre of the eyebolt, there is a circle of gold. The good gold.  

I May 2003, Havila Supply was acquired by France’s Groupe Bourbon, but just a few months later, in July, Havila Shipping was registered. For the owners and those living on windswept islets, the sea has never been an obstacle. The sea is a source of food, prosperity, and opportunity. The sea is the future. 

Havila Shipping ASA

In 2005, Havila Shipping ASA is registered on the Oslo Stock Exchange, entering a busy period of considerable newbuild activity.

During a five-year period, the company gets 17 newbuilds. As the newbuild programme is over, Havila has the most modern fleet among the largest offshore companies, and activity and optimism is big. Havila Shipping has in addition to the main office in Fosnavåg, branches in Aberdeen, Brazil, Singapore and Malaysia. In the record year of 2013, the company has 27 top modern vessels, 840 employees and enters new contracts for more than NOK 2.9 billion.

In the next year, oil prices plunge, and the offshore industry enters a stage where it’s all about survival while delivering good services.

Havila Shipping is clearing up within their own house selling ships and restructuring the company, while agreeing deals with creditors. In Havila, however, they also manage to see new opportunities. In 2017, they enter into Volstad Maritime, in order to continue their efforts within offshore vessels.

Renewable energy

Havila Shipping is also putting their efforts in digitalisation and new, sustainable technology on-board offshore ships. Among other things, they are forerunners with the use of battery packages on-board and the use of clean shore power when ships are in shore.

In 2020, Havila Shipping becomes the first of the larger offshore companies to agree long-term refinance agreements. More than 400 employees, offshore and onshore, operating 14 vessels, have been given peace to work to further develop the company, also entering an energy market going through large readjustments.

With 70 years of experience from services on the ocean, Havila Shipping’s Green ships enter the future. Havila has some of the cleanest vessels within the offshore fleet and the aim is a continuously reduced environmental footprint. Havila Shipping’s vessels will justify the colour green.