History

“Famos” stands for “Family Österström”. The journey started in 1936 with Karl Österström, son of the lighthouse master of Häradsskär in the archipelago in Gryt. Karl was a captain on his own vessels on which he transported goods on the Swedish east coast. Karl had five children and his three sons followed his footsteps. In the 1970’s Karl, together with his youngest son, Percy Österström, started a marina for leisure boats. The marina was located in Gryt, a small town on the on the Swedish east coast and in the middle of the archipelago. The business grew over the years and soon enough they housed and provided services for over 300 boats.

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In the early 1980s, Percy and his brother Sigvard saw a business opportunity to transport timber in the archipelago. Together they set out to buy the first tugboat and the company Österströms Rederi AB (Österströms) was established. The business and timber volumes grew quickly and so did the number of vessels. A few years later they diverged out, across the Baltic Sea and started moving cargoes such as limestone, coal, pulpwood, and steel products. Shortly after winning these new markets, the brothers decided to part ways and focus their individual interests where Percy continued to develop the shipping company, Österströms.

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In the 1990’s Percy started a joint venture with a Russian state-owned shipping company to transport forest products from Russia and the Baltic States to Finland and Sweden. There was a great need to raise the utilization grade of the current fleet of merchant vessels in Russia, and the joint venture was a win-win for both parties as well as the customers on the receiving ends. Over some 30 years, many million tons of logs have been shipped and concepts for loading and transshipment established. The same concepts have later been utilized in log transportation in South America.

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During the early 2000’s, Österströms expanded rapidly: full steam ahead. The company achieved a great track record and reputation and the trade was more industrialized with more land arger customers on longer contracts. Parallel with the core activities in the shipping company, other parts of the company grew beyond the Baltic Sea-region, hydraulic cranes were developed for efficient loading and unloading, new vessel concepts were customized to meet the customers’ needs, and in 2001 the Österströms Academy was founded to provide skills training and leadership development. Österströms continued to focus on qualitative, customized and efficient transport concepts and now found business opportunities through turnkey logistics solutions. This meant Österströms further developed its network where subsidiaries around the Baltic Sea were formed to improve cost-efficiency and logistics even more in order to maximize the support for the customers.

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In 2005, Österströms took new steps towards providing integrated logistics solutions, which affected the company geographically both through opening more offices around the Baltic Sea while the concept gained in popularity also outside the Baltic Sea region. The demand for turnkey logistics solutions led the way to in-house terminal operations with land-based distribution in England and Poland in 2006.

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To further improve the service level and push the expansion, Österströms opened a new office in Terneuzen, The Netherlands, in 2008. The location was ideal for a hub business offering land transport via railway and trucks or inland waterways to Europe as well as sea transport to UK, Scandinavia, and southwest Europe.

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In May 2009, Österströms put all of its shipping and logistics operations under one brand: Österströms Logistics. The brand offered turnkey solutions that covered maritime transport services, terminal operations, distribution, intermediate storage, IT and environmental services – altogether perfectly tailored to meet each customer’s specific requirements. This was in fact unique since the company had managed to combine a physical chain of transport modes that had not been done before.

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Österströms continued to be a privately owned and rapidly expanding group, with operations at sea and on land. The customers primarily came from the forestry, energy, and steel industries. Österströms' sales totaled more than a billion SEK and had subsidiaries in seven countries with around 650 co-workers. The fleet included more than 35 vessels, both owned and chartered. The core market was still the Baltic Sea but more frequently also in the North Sea and Western Europe.

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Then came the global financial crisis in 2008 and left basically no one unaffected. The dramatic effects on the shipping industry originated from immediate reductions in the manufacturing industries’ production. Lower production in the forestry and steel mill industries meant fewer shipments, which in turn resulted in loss of revenue for companies like Österströms. 2009 was a year with weak performance where the already negative operational results were further accelerated by restructuring of the fleet.

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The market suffered heavily from the recession and 2010 brought about a lot of hard work. The industry needed consolidation and in order for Österströms to become a stronger presence in the increasingly competitive market. Österströms went looking for possible partner candidates, which resulted in a sale to Rederi AB TransAtlantic. The merger started in 2011 and Percy was honored the responsibility to lead the now much bigger shipping company. TransAtlantic’s ambition was to split the group into two separate units: Offshore/Icebreaking and Industrial Shipping. A year later, Percy realized he and TransAtlantic didn’t share common values and Percy left to focus solely on his other businesses, Skärgårdshavet, Famos Group, FrontLog and MultiDocker.

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Shortly after the Famos Group was born and housed under the same roof of 35+ years of experience in short sea shipping and integrated logistics. The aim was to create greater value for the clients and be part of developing the industries by using the extensive experience and proven successes over the past four decades.

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Over the past few years, we've seen a strong need for a fully integrated service provider. Therefore, the Famos Group started a new company. FrontLog AB has both the ability to bring cargo owners together to share vessel space and reduce freight costs, as well as the knowhow of what cargo owners and the shipping market need. The core trading routes will begin within the markets we already have extensive knowledge of: Europe and South America. FrontLog AB also will provide a full range of logistics services. The company comprise a carefully selected and lean team of shipping and logistics professionals who each bring their niche industry expertise.

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Welcome to read more at:

www.multidocker.com

www.frontlog.se