In 2021 DS Norden celebrated its 150 years anniversary. In this book Martin Jes Iversen is analyzing the history of the shipping company which is one of the oldest in Denmark. In the first 50 years after being founded in 1871, Norden was a pioneer firm in Danish shipping. This period was followed by five decades of financial stability and gradual stagnation. But in the early 1990s the firm started its journey to become one of the leading firms in the global dry-bulk market. As the world experienced technological, economical and political changes, Norden would also change. Some of these changes were incremental. Others were more abrupt. But they were never predictable.
This book explores the transformation of Danish shipbuilding from 1975-2015. Specifically it expores the closure of B&W Shipyard in 1980, Nakskov Shipyard in 1986, Aalborg Shipyard in 1987-88, Burmeister and Wain Shipyard in 1996 and Danyard Frederikshavn in 1999. The author identifies 27 firms that were spun out during the closure of five Danish shipyards and finds that several of these firms were able to apply the inherent resources in new activities with more value added. The book also finds that the competencies of the redundant workers from the four shipyards were useful in other parts of the Danish labor market. The book sheds new light how internal and external factors influence the transformation of mature industries.