About us

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Investing in the future

DSD AS is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Folke Hermansen AS. Folke Hermansen AS is owned by the Hermansen family. Yuhong Jin Hermansen is chair of DSD AS.

We have 14 members of staff working at our head office in Stavanger. In 2019 we established a representative office in Shanghai in China, and on 15 January 2020 we changed name from Det Stavangerske Dampskibsselskab AS to DSD AS (“DSD”). Our investment team is composed of a mix of younger and more experienced staff. Thanks to their strong combined expertise, we are able to focus both on the here and now and on the future.

Right since we launched our first paddle steamer in 1855, we have been creating, managing and developing assets. Developing assets and companies, and a willingness to take on difficult challenges, are strong features of our national industrial and cultural history.

We have primarily operated businesses in the transport and maritime sectors. The group is now undergoing a period of change, and it has high ambitions. Our focus is now on high-tech sustainable companies in the mobility sector, ocean, tourism and health care. Sustainability, active ownership and value creation shall be the foundations for the DSD Group’s future development.

As a family-owned group, we believe in creating value by taking a long-term perspective and through innovation. We are constantly on the lookout for sustainable opportunities, and we give people and technology the time and space they need to flourish. That is at the core of what we do. That is what DSD is about.


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Our investment team

At DSD, our business culture and history are all about looking to the future and engaging with the world around us. We invest in people who want to develop groundbreaking ideas, create world-leading technology and contribute to the society that we belong to. We have no desire to follow in the footsteps of others; we want to lead the way. We have been doing that for over 160 years. And we intend to continue doing so for another 160 years.

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Anita Krohn took up her position as CEO of DSD in May 2024. She has significant expertise in strategy, sustainability and innovation, and has experience from board positions in a number of companies, including being a member of DSD's board for three years until May 2024. Anita is also an advisor and board member to the European Commission with the establishment of the European Innovation Council (EIC). She has previously been CEO of Hewlett-Packard Norway and Innovation Norway, and has led the government's advisory committee for innovation and growth in the green sector towards 2035.

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Martin Økland is Deputy Group CEO and is a vital part of the investment team where DSD seeks to find opportunities within our various business areas.

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Kjartan Melberg is an investment director with a long and varied background from several different industries.

1855

DSD is founded on 12 February 1855 in order to build the paddle steamer “Ryfylke” and operate it on the first commercial passenger services in the Ryfylke region.
Om DSD

1879

DSD expands into the international market by winning a three-year contract for the summer mail route between Kristiansand in Norway and Fredrikshavn in mainland Denmark.
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1919

DSD joins the Hurtigruten coastal ferry service, giving Stavanger a weekly connection to the route between Bergen and Kirkenes.
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1960

Norway’s first hydrofoil Vingtor starts operating on Norway’s first fast ferry service between Stavanger, Haugesund and Bergen. Travelling at 35 knots, Vingtor covers the distance in just four hours.
Om DSD 3

1989

DSD enters the international shipping market through DSD Shipping AS. It soon signs a contract to buy five tankers.
Om DSD 4

2004

Nor-Cargo is sold to Posten Norge AS. Nor-Cargo shipping is renamed Nor Lines AS. Shortly afterwards, Nor Lines establishes a nationwide network of land freight services.
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2009

The world’s first passenger ferries powered by natural gas (LNG) enter service on the major commuter route Nesoddtangen-Aker Brygge in Oslo.
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2011

Nor Lines becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of DSD.

DSD acquires all of the shares in Tide Sjø AS, and changes the name of the company to Norled AS.

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2015

Norled puts the world’s first battery-powered zero-emission ferry, Ampere, into operation on the Lavik-Oppdal route in Sogn.

Nor Lines takes delivery of two award-winning fully LNG-powered cargo ships.

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2017

DSD acquires all of the shares in Tide ASA.

The Nor Lines business is sold to Samskip.

DSD Shipping signs a contract to buy a further four tankers.

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2019

Norled is sold to CapMan Infra and CBRE Caledon Capital Management.

Go Fjords is launched by DSD, marking a new initiative aimed at the international tourism market.

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2020

The company changes name from Det Stavangerske Dampskibsselskab AS to DSD AS (“DSD”).
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2021

With the investment in the company TIdewave, DSD enters into the health care sector.

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2022

DSD is further investing in the tourism and travel technology sector. DSD is acquiring Keolis Norge and taking ownership stakes in Fish4Pets, Mobitech, and Minuendo. The latest Aframax is sold.

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2023

DSD Explore acquires the events company Z Event. DSD takes an ownership stake in Resani. The ownership stake in Ferdia is transferred from Tide to DSD.

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2024

Anita Krohn becomes the new CEO. The MR vessel Stavanger Pioneer is sold. DSD takes a majority position in Field Geospatial. Investments are made in the companies Dotnet Mentor and Anue.

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Awards and milestones

At DSD, we transform ambitious ideas into groundbreaking results. That’s how we are creating world-leading, green, sustainable technology.


  1. Year: 2013
    Award:
    • Green Ship Award
    • Norwegian Logistics and Freight Association's environmental award
    • The Rogaland county reserach and innovation prize
  2. Year: 2014
    Award:
    • Ship of the Year
    • The Thor Heyerdahl Award
    • Næringslivets Klimapris, an annual award given to Norwegian business for climate-friendly innovation
  3. Year: 2015
    Award:
    • The world’s greenest cargo ships, the LNG-powered Kvitbjørn and Kvitnos, are christened and enter service.
    • The world’s first battery-powered zero-emission ferry, Ampere, enters service.
  4. Year: 2017
    Award:
    • The hybrid ferry MS Folgefonn becomes the first ferry in the world to use wireless charging.

Management

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    Anita Krohn

    Konsernleder

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    Kjartan Melberg

    Chief Investment Officer

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    Martin Økland

    Chief Business Development Officer

Board of directors

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    Yuhong J. Hermansen

    Yuhong Jin Hermansen is the chairman of the board and majority owner of DSD. Hermansen has over 25 years of combined work experience in shipping, finance, investment, and management. Hermansen is, among other positions, a board member of the Stavanger Chamber of Commerce, and has previously served as chairman of the board at Tide, as well as a board member of the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise's central board and of Skagen Fondene.

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    Bjørn A. Dahle

    Bjørn Anders Dahle is deputy chairman of the board of DSD, and has been part of the board of the group since 2013. Dahle has over 20 years of experience in the oil and gas sector as owner and managing director of Mento AS. He also holds various board positions and leads a unit in the Stavanger Chamber of Commerce responsible for Sola municipality. Additionally, he has experience in the tourism and event industry.

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    Lena Nymo Helli

    Lena Nymo Helli has been a board member of DSD since 2021. Nymo Helli is the managing director at Norway Health Tech, where she focuses on health-related startup companies. She has extensive experience in both national and international pharmaceutical industries. She serves as the chairman of the board for Norway's northernmost healthcare institution and has previously worked as a Venture Partner at the acquisition fund Hadean Ventures. Nymo Helli is also a board member and co-founder of the health data company NordicRWE.

  • Rune Jensen styremedlem DSD

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    Rune Jensen

    Rune Jensen has been a board member of DSD since the spring of 2024. He has extensive experience from senior management and board positions in Norway and abroad, including in energy, finance, information technology and the publishing industry. In 1999 he was responsible for business development at DSD, and in the period 2000 – 2006 he led DSD's investment in information technology, including the IPO of Allianse in 2005 and the sale to Ergo Group in 2006. For the past 18 years, Jensen has worked within Private Equity where he has contributed to acquisitions, value developments and sales of a number of portfolio companies.

Contact us

Do you have any questions about potential investments, or do you have a company or an idea that you would like us to have a look at? Regardless of whether it’s a fund, company, project or something else interesting, we’re happy to have a chat.

DSD AS
Børehaugen 1
4006 Stavanger

Phone: +47 51 84 56 00
Email: mail@dsd.no