Ship managers OSM Maritime and Thome to merge

OSM Maritime’s CEO Finn Amund Norbye will assume the CEO role at the merged OSM Thome.

Norwegian-based OSM Maritime Group and Singapore-based Thome Group have agreed to a merger that will create a new ship management power house: OSM Thome.

Today, the two companies manage 1,000 ships, 450 ships of which are under full technical management and 550 under crew management, with the fleet including tankers, bulkers, containerships, car carriers, cruise ships and offshore vessels and units.

OSM Maritime CEO Finn Amund Norbye will assume the role as CEO for the merged OSM Thome, while Thome CEO, Olav Nortun, will take up the position of COO for the consolidated ship management activities. OSM founder Bjørn Tore Larsen will become chairman of the new board of directors and Thome’s Claes Eek Thorstensen will be the vice chairman.

The headquarters of the combined company will be located in Arendal, Norway, with strong technical management hubs maintained in Singapore and Europe.

“By joining our resources in OSM Thome, we will become an even better partner to our customers. With our emphasis on safe and efficient operations as well as innovation, our ambition is to make the combined company even more relevant and attractive to customers, employees, and seafarers,” said Norbye. “Our companies are a good match in terms of expertise and capacity, and we share a common agenda on important areas such as digitalization, cybersecurity and green shipping.”

“Together, the two companies have a total of 32,000 employees, whereof 2,000 onshore in 22 countries, representing a diversity of expertise and experience. It is the people that enable us to deliver top quality and sustainable solutions to our customers. We operate across all the world’s oceans, and the efforts of our 30,000 seafarers are key for the position we have gained within international shipping,” says Nortun.

Completion of the merger of the two ship management companies is conditional upon approval from competition authorities, which is anticipated during the first quarter of 2023. Until the merger has been formally approved, the two companies will operate as before, with separate management and organizations.