Wilson ASA is a shortsea liner shipping company that operates about 100 vessels, of which 64 are owned. The ships are bulk carrier

Bulk carrier

A bulk carrier, bulk freighter, or bulker is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo, such as grains, coal, ore, and cement in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrier was built in 1852, economic forces have fueled the development of these ships,...

s in the range of to . The company is controlled by Kristian Eidesvik who owns about 80% of the company. Headquarters are located in Bergen

Bergen

Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....

, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

.

History

Wilson was founded in 1993 after the merger of Paal Wilson & Co

Paal Wilson & Co

Paal Wilson & Co A/S was a shipping company founded in 1942 that operated short sea liner services throughout Europe. It merged its operations with Jebsens in 1993 when they formed Jebsen Wilson Euro Carriers...

 (founded 1942) and Jebsens

Jebsens

Kristian Jebsens Rederi usually known as Jebsens was a short sea liner shipping company founded in 1929. Operations were ceased i 1993 when the company merged its operations with Paal Wilson & Co to form Jebsen Wilson Euro Carriers...

 (founded 1929) with the operating company Jebsen Wilson Euro Carriers, as one of the largest short sea shipping

Short sea shipping

The modern terms Short sea shipping and marine highway refer to the historical terms coastal trade, coasting trade and coastwise trade, which encompass the movement of cargo and passengers mainly by sea, without directly crossing an ocean. Deep sea shipping, intercontinental shipping or ocean...

 companies in the world. The new company was a joint venture

Joint venture

A joint venture is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets...

 still owned by the two mother companies. At the time of the merger Paal Wilson & Co was owned 67% by IPG Shipping while the rest was owned by the Wilson family after Paal Wilson died in 1985. Kristian Eidesvik bought part of the company in 1995, but after internal struggle in Paal Wilson & Co sold their ownership in Euro Carriers to Jebsens, instead gaining control over Actinor Shipping. But the next year Actinor bought 70% of Jebsens, and by 2001 the entire company was owned by In Ship, owned by Eidesvik. Wilson ASA was listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange

Oslo Stock Exchange

The Oslo Stock Exchange serves as the main market for trading in the shares of Norwegian companies. It opens at 9:00am and closes 5:30pm local time...

in 2005.