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Thome Group News

Strong partnership for decades

By Tihomir Baraba, Fleet Group Manager

Champion Tankers AS (CT) means more to Thome Ship Management than just a Principal as

this special long lasting partnership keeps going for nearly three decades.

The company was founded in 1994 by Karl K. Kvalheim and are mainly employed on the spot market for carrying vegoil,
Arne Viste when they bought the company called Champion palmoil, molasses, uan as well as the clean petroleum products. Out

Shipping AS which owned the tanker MT Champion. CT became the of 11 vessels under their portfolio, nine chem/oil tankers of between
operating company within the Champion Shipping AS. However, 45,000 to 47000 DWT are managed by us which is the highest

Karl’s and Arne’s partnership with Thome goes back even beyond number given to Thome at the time.
that time because the first vessel which they had given to Thome was ■ CHAMPION SPIRIT, built 1991 in Spain

for their ship broker company Nesttun Chartering AS, back in 1985.
■ CHAMPION CORNELIA, 1996 in Spain
■ CHAMPION TRUST, 1995 in Croatia
MT Champion as the very first Champion vessel, came to Thome

■ CHAMPION TIDE, 1996 in Croatia
in 1994 and to date there were 20 different Champion vessels
■ CHAMPION TERN, 1999 in Croatia
coming in and out of Thome. Typically, CT would buy a 10 to 15
■ CHAMPION EBONY, 2004 in Croatia
year old tanker and then run it for 10 years before sending to a

■ EMMA VICTORY, 1996 in Croatia
scrapyard for demolition. CT has acquired eight tankers in past three
■ NINA VICTORY, 1996 in Croatia
years after scrapping the old ones hoping this would give a new

■ LYNDA VICTORY, 1996 in Croatia
wind to their business. We are very proud for being recognised as
their important partner and being rewarded with all those recent In spite of the recent shipping downturn and all difficulties

acquisitions.
experienced, there is no doubt that CT will remain strong on
the market and continue to grow further. Thome will certainly Today, CT controls 11 chemical oil tankers with a total tonnage

keep doing its best to maintain this partnership for more decades of about 500,000 DWT. They own eight vessels and run three more
to come.
for EGD Holdings (Bergen) as their commercial managers. Vessels

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Issue 36: March 2014