Idan Ofer is closing in on John Fredriksen as the UK’s richest shipowner, according to the latest edition of The Sunday Times Rich List.
While the Norwegian shipping tycoon is still the richest shipowner resident in the UK with a fortune of £8.311bn ($10.3bn), Ofer is just £311m behind him on £8bn.
The annual review by the British broadsheet seeks to detail the fortunes of the 1,000 wealthiest individuals and families in Britain.
Fredriksen is the 19th richest person in the UK, down two places from last year as there was no change in his net worth, while Ofer slipped one place to 22 despite seeing his fortune increase by £704m.
Other prominent shipowners making the list include Stefan Sten Olsson, whose father founded Stena. He was estimated by The Sunday Times to be worth £1.3bn and slipped five places to 130.
Peter and Anna Margaret Smedvig and family saw no change to the value of their net worth of £880m, but it did not stop them rising six places to 190th.
The Logothetis family, whose fortune is tied up in The Libra Group, the parent company of UK-based shipping company Lomar Shipping, also made the list.
Their fortune is estimated to be worth £660m, unchanged from a year ago and putting them in 251st place, down from 246th place a year ago.
A new entry at number 271 is Bhupendra Kansagra and family with a fortune worth £579m, according to The Sunday Times.
TradeWinds reported in late 2021 that the London-based family, which has extensive holdings in the African oil industry, had emerged as co-owners in Laurent Cadji-run Union Maritime.
Helene and Marianne Odfjell and family have re-entered the list in 272nd place with a fortune of £570m.
Virgin Group supremo and cruise ship owner Sir Richard Branson saw his fortune shrink by more than 40% in a year on the back of big losses suffered during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The British entrepreneur slipped down the list following his satellite launch company — Virgin Orbit — going bankrupt. His wealth has dropped by £1.8bn since last year.
Another major loser was Barnaby and Merlin Swire and family, which saw their fortune decrease by £1.22bn to £8.4bn. This dropped them from 13th to 18th place on the list.
