In 1874 O.T. Tønnevold bought his first shares in a ship, the Bark Success. At the same time he started with timber trade and was involved in a small shop in the city centre of Grimstad. In 1879 he became themanaging owner of the bark Fatum, a ship he owned together with hisfather in law, and two of his brother in laws. Over the next decades hebought several barks, sconnerts, full riggers in wooden and steelships. He bought his first steam ship in 1900. More steamships and sailships followed towards the First World War. In 1919, the company boughtshares in the local newspaper Grimstad Adressetidende, and has been a major share holder up to recent years. After World War I, the company built steam ships in the UK. The timing of these investments showed to be wrong. Activitiesstagnated however, just after the First World War during the crisis inthe 1920's several ships had to be disposed of, resulting in heavyfinancial losses.

Passing on tradition

His two sons, Thomas and Olaf, both joined company before World War I, and took over the management after their father died in 1926. In1928 they bought the first steam tanker clearing the way for furtheropportunities and three new tankers were delivered before the start ofWorld War II from Sweden. In post-war years, contracts were undertakenfor a number of tankers, often combined with long time-charters tomajor oil companies. During the Second World War, Thomas and Olafdecided to split the company into two separate companies. So fordecades, two independent Tønnevold companies were in operation.However, in 1990, Jan Olaf Tønnevold gained control over the twocompanies. Since then, the Tønnevold group has been managed by JanOlaf  Tønnevold, the fourth Tønnevold generation.

They continued the activity in tankers, bulkers, general cargovessels and obo's vessels. During the 1970's the Group became involvedin property investments, building the first large shopping centre inSouthern Norway where the Group's administration still is housed . Theinternational shipping crisis in the 1980s affected O.T. Tønnevoldshipping business severely, but the Group overcame the crisis.

Diversification and activities / shipping, property and venture

The son of Johan Tønnevold, Jan Olaf Tønnevold, who had started towork in the company at the middle of the 1970's assumed management ofthe company in 1988. In 1995 Jan Olaf made a decision to diversify thecompany into three business areas shipping, property and venture /investments.

This was a strategy decision with far-reaching significance. Inrecent years significant investments have been made in all three areas.Investments in shipping have included container-feeders, heavy-lift,larger containerships, reefers and RO-RO. The company has for the lastdecades made several successful investments in property. The VentureDivision has invested in various technologies such as medicine,maritime and Information and Communication Technology.