Swedish shipowner Hans Laurin has died at the age of 87.
He lived an extraordinary shipping career, stretching from leading one of the world’s biggest shipyards to building his own shipowning company, Laurin Maritime.
Laurin was also a key figure at tanker owners' association Intertanko, as a member of its executive committee.
He was known as a straight talker, which did not always go down well. In the late 1990s, he had an argument with John Fredriksen that led to the Norwegian shipowner departing from Intertanko.
Period of turmoil
Laurin's shipping career started in 1955 at Rederi AB Nordstjernen. He then moved to key Swedish shipowners Salen and Stena Group before he was hired to lead Gothenburg-based Gotaverken, a shipyard that had as many as 25,000 employees at the time.
At the time in 1971, Sweden was one of the world’s leading shipbuilding nations.
But shortly after his appointment, the yard crisis hit and a turbulent period followed.
His time at the shipbuilder was marked by major unrest among its workers, and he had to approach the Swedish Security Service for advice amid rumours that activists would launch a political revolution that would start at Gotaverken.
Laurin laid off 10 workers, which was unheard of at the time. In 1976, he was forced to quit because of huge difficulties at the yard and the Swedish government took over the company.
His son, Mikael, said that in spite of all the problems and stress at Gotaverken, his father thought it was an interesting period.
Only four years later, Laurin set up Laurin Maritime with his wife, Agneta, with the office located in their home in Hovaas, outside Gothenburg.
'Complemented each other'
The two worked closely to build up the company, which eventually moved to London. In many ways, Agneta was a managing director, while Hans took care of the shipping side of the business.
“The two complemented each other,” Mikael said.
In February this year, with Mikael at the helm, Laurin Maritime and its fleet of 15 tankers were sold to Team Tankers for $206m.
Laurin is survived by Agneta and his children, Anneli Delmas, Mikael, Marissa and Ulrika Laurin.
