Frontline Ltd. is the world's fourth largest

oil tanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined c ...

shipping company A shipping line or shipping company is a company whose line of business is ownership and operation of ships. Shipping companies provide a method of distinguishing ships by different kinds of cargo: # Bulk cargo is a type of special cargo that ...

, based in Hamilton,

Bermuda ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = "Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , ...

and controlled by

John Fredriksen John Fredriksen (born 10 May 1944) is a Norwegian-born Cypriot oil tanker and shipping billionaire businessman based in London. He owns the world's largest oil tanker fleet and has major interests in the offshore driller Seadrill, the fish farmi ...

. Its primary business is transporting crude oil. As of 2008 the company had one of the world's largest tanker fleets consisting of

VLCC An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined c ...

Suezmax "Suezmax" is a naval architecture term for the largest ship measurements capable of transiting the Suez Canal in a laden condition, and is almost exclusively used in reference to tankers. The limiting factors are beam, draft, height (becau ...

and Suezmax OBO carriers (82 tankers in total with 18 more on order). On 7 April 2022 there was announced a merger between

Euronav Euronav is a Belgian international shipping enterprise which focuses on oil transport by sea. Euronav is considered to be one of the major independent global oil shipping firms. Euronav is in the process of merging with another leading oil tanker ...

and Frontline Ltd. pending regulatory approval and ironing out of the last details. A definitive combination agreement was signed in July the same year.

History

Frontline has its origin in Frontline AB, which was founded in 1985, and which was listed on the

Stockholm Stock Exchange Nasdaq Stockholm, formerly known as the Stockholm Stock Exchange ( sv, Stockholmsbörsen), is a stock exchange located in Frihamnen, Stockholm, Sweden. Founded in 1863, it has become the primary securities exchange of the Nordic countries. ...

from 1989 to 1997.

Hemen Holding John Fredriksen (born 10 May 1944) is a Norwegian-born Cypriot oil tanker and shipping billionaire businessman based in London. He owns the world's largest oil tanker fleet and has major interests in the offshore drilling, offshore driller Seadri ...

(a company indirectly controlled by the largest shareholder and chairman of Frontline,

) became the largest shareholder of Frontline in 1996. In May 1997, a decision was made at the general meeting in Frontline AB to change its domicile from Sweden to Bermuda and to list its shares on the

Oslo Stock Exchange Oslo Stock Exchange ( no, Oslo Børs) (OSE: OSLO) is a stock exchange within the Nordic countries and offers Norway’s only regulated markets for securities trading today. The stock exchange offers a full product range including equities, deriv ...

. The change of

domicile Domicile may refer to: * Home, a place where someone lives * Domicile (astrology), the zodiac sign over which a planet has rulership * Domicile (law) Domicile is relevant to an individual's "personal law," which includes the law that governs a p ...

was executed through a share for share exchange offer from the then newly formed Frontline in

. Under Fredriksen the company absorbed several other companies:

London and Overseas Freighters London & Overseas Freighters Ltd. (LOF) was an ocean-going merchant shipping company that for most of its history was based in the United Kingdom. Counties Ship Management In 1920 Manuel Kulukundis from the Aegean island of Kasos and his cous ...

(1997), ICB (1999), and Golden Ocean (2000). These takeovers made Frontline the world's largest tanker company, a position it has retained to the present day. Article on John Fredriksen's daughters and their connections with Frontline.

Today

As of 31 December 2010, Frontline's tanker and OBO fleet consisted of 73 vessels. The fleet consists of 44

s, which are either owned or chartered in, 21

tankers which are either owned or chartered in and eight Suezmax OBOs which are chartered in. Frontline also had five VLCC newbuildings and two Suezmax newbuildings on order and three VLCCs under their commercial management. The company's largest

shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of a corporation is an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the legal ...

is Hemen Holding Ltd., a company indirectly controlled by the chairman of Frontline,

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least 1,000,000,000, one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The ...

, Norway's highest

net worth Net worth is the value of all the non-financial and financial assets owned by an individual or institution minus the value of all its outstanding liabilities. Since financial assets minus outstanding liabilities equal net financial assets, ne ...

person. The freight market is very volatile, with

standard deviations In statistics, the standard deviation is a measure of the amount of variation or dispersion of a set of values. A low standard deviation indicates that the values tend to be close to the mean (also called the expected value) of the set, whi ...

of up to 70%. From an options perspective, this is a possibility for a very large up and downside—part of this downside can be hedged away via freight derivatives. AG-Japan clean and dirty are the most liquid routes traded in the

derivatives market The derivatives market is the financial market for derivatives, financial instruments like futures contracts or options, which are derived from other forms of assets. The market can be divided into two, that for exchange-traded derivatives a ...

. Frontline has a very high dividend yield, both in cash and in Ship Finance (SFL) stocks; for example, in late 2007 its annual dividend ran between 12 and 18%, depending on the fluctuating share price. SFL is an offshoot of Frontline; the offshoot is estimated to have generated 25% gains to shareholders due to the different risk in Frontline and SFL.

Golden Ocean Group Golden Ocean Group is a Bermuda-registered, Norway- based dry bulk shipping company. The company was created as a demerged part of Frontline in 2004 and is listed on Nasdaq and the Oslo Stock Exchange Oslo Stock Exchange ( no, Oslo Børs) ( ...

(GOGL), a dry bulk carrier firm, was also spun off of Frontline and listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. GOGL is a volatile stock, and as with Frontline, dry freight derivatives are available. In 2006, Frontline started a new Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) project,

Sea Production The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Se ...

. In June 2007, Frontline sold its entire holding of 25,500,000 shares in Sea Production. The sale of the shares was in line with Frontline's strategy to remain a pure crude oil transportation company. Frontline and Sea Production will continue a strategic partnership with respect to conversion of crude oil tankers into oil storage and production units.

References

External links

* *

Form 20-F Form 20-F is an SEC filing submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission used by certain foreign private issuers to provide information. The form is used by companies where 50% or less of the total amount of voting shares are held by Ameri ...

submitted to the

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...

{{Authority control 1985 establishments in Sweden Companies established in 1985 Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Companies listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange Shipping companies of Bermuda Shipping companies of Norway Tanker shipping companies