Wilhelm Wilhelmsen death last week was by suicide, it has emerged.
The cause of the high-profile shipowner’s death was revealed by his friend, investor Christen Sveaas, in an obituary in Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten that was written in cooperation with Wilhelmsen’s close family members.
“Recently, there have been many unfair attacks on [Wilhelmsen’s] integrity. I admire and have deep respect for Wilhelm, his life and work for his whole family,” Sveaas wrote.
“This is shared by all who knew Wilhelm and the many thousand employees in the company: Without Wilhelm, no Wilh Wilhelmsen group.”
Wilhelmsen’s death at the age of 82 came after a family dispute emerged in his company.
The diversified maritime group was structured under a traditional arrangement that saw the eldest son, chief executive Thomas Wilhelmsen, inherit responsibility for running the company.
Ownership of Wilh Wilhelmsen Holding is held by four different branches of the family, but the only voting share has been held by Wilhelm.
Some branches of the family have brought in Swedish financial firm Carnegie to help find a solution aimed at giving them more influence over the Wilh Wilhemsen group of companies.
'Insignificant' disagreement
Cathrine Lovenskiold Wilhelmsen, spokeswoman for the sides of the family that hired Carnegie, told Norwegian daily Finansavisen described news of the suicide as “sad to hear”.
“The business disagreements within our family are right now insignificant,” she said.
Wilhelm Wilhelmsen worked in the family company for almost all of his professional life and became partner in 1964. He acted as chairman from 1992 to 2010, apart from three years as chief executive starting in 2000.
He was the fourth generation in the originally Tonsberg-based company, and contributed strongly in developing Wilh Wilhelmsen from a liner ship operator in several segments, including bulkers and tankers, into a maritime industrial group.
Without Wilhelm, no Wilh Wilhelmsen group.
Christen Sveaas
Both through acquisitions and organic growth, Wilh Wilhelmsen became a major supplier of chemicals and equipment to the world’s merchant fleet and created a worldwide agency network. It also set up a separate company for technical management of both its own and third-party vessels.
Gradually, Wilh Wilhelmsen and its Swedish partner Wallenius Lines built themselves into the world’s largest car carrier operator. Among major strategic moves in the sector was the purchase of the car carrier company Den Norske Amerikalinje in 1995.
The company headquarters is now at Lysaker, after originally being located in Vika in the centre of Oslo.
At one point 35 years ago, the group was in deep crisis due to heavy investment in both drilling rigs and offshore support vessels in addition to continued poor markets in conventional shipping. Several companies in the group had to renegotiate terms with its banks to avoid collapse.
Problem solver
Wilhelm Wilhelmsen played a key role in the sorting out the problems.
A few years later in 1989, the shipowner had to tackle the catastrophe that hit Wilhelmsen Lines when a plane chartered from Partnair crashed near Hirtshals, Denmark, and all 55 onboard died. Most of the 50 passengers were Wilhelmsen employees on their way to Hamburg for to take over a vessel. Nearly all of the liner subsidiary’s management team lost their lives.
