Stolt-Nielsen

Stolt-Nielsen Limited (SNL) provides transportation and storage for liquids, notably specialty and bulk liquid chemicals. It also has an aquaculture division that grows turbot and other fish and fish products.

Founded in 1959, corporate services are provided from London. Most of the company's operations are in the United States, the Netherlands, and Singapore.

History

Founding

Company founder Jacob Stolt-Nielsen began his career training at a ship brokerage in London, when he noticed an increase in certain kinds of liquids being shipped over the sea, especially those that served as the base materials for plastics. He moved to New York City in order to work for R.J. Chianelli, a broker in the chemicals industry that focused on these products. He witnessed the explosion in growth of the plastics industry, building on technology developed during World War II. However, the basic materials needed for the creation of plastics were new substances that the traditional shipping industry did not yet know how to ship safely or effectively.

There was a need in the industry for tankers that could transport different liquid chemicals in separation from each other, in order to keep the substances strictly pure upon delivery. There was also a need for the creation of packaging or housing the materials such that they would not eat through the containment. He developed a system using deep-well submersible pumps: one pump and one tank per parcel of liquid, in order to maintain the purity of the substances and the integrity of the containment. For his idea he received 20% of a new venture looking to monetize the idea, with Chianelli receiving 20% and 60% going to a customer of theirs, C.P. Steuber. The new firm was called Chemical Carriers Inc., formed one year after Stolt-Nielsen had first arrived in the US.

The new system improved the cost efficiency of shipping the chemicals by over 300%, resulting in an immediate profit for the company and the nickname "Jackpot Nielsen" for the new method's inventor. The maiden voyage of the new tanker system was made on board the ''Freddy''. This was the prototype for the "parcel tanker", a further development on the idea by Stolt-Nielsen. Stolt-Nielsen leveraged his invention into his work as a ship broker, and in 1959 Stolt-Nielsen officially became a ship owner with his purchase of the ''Stolt Avance''.

1959-2000

The company purchased the ''Fossvik'' in 1961, which was renamed the ''Stolt Avenir'', followed by the ''Ringerd'', renamed the ''Stolt Victor''.Ilner, 111. In 1962 the company opened its first Asian office in Tokyo, in order for the ''Victor'' to service that area of the world. By 1963 the company had offices in Oslo, Norway; New York, United States and Tokyo, Japan and was operating 18 ships. In 1965 the company purchased the ''Stolt Condor'' and ''Stolt Atlantic'', all time-chartered to Parcel Tankers, and run from the port at Haugesund, Norway. They also began to expand into South America. In 1971 the first storage terminal was acquired and in 1972 Sea Farms (then not part of the Stolt-Nielsen Group) was founded. In 1988 the company issued an initial public offering on NASDAQ. Jacob passed on his position as CEO to his son Niels G. Stolt-Nielsen in 2000, with Jacob staying as chairman of the company.

US federal investigation

Stolt-Nielsen entered an amnesty agreement in January 2003 with the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), on condition that it fully disclose the operating activities of its competitors and partners. The result of this disclosure led to criminal charges against two companies, Odfjell and JO Tankers. The DOJ rescinded its amnesty and withdrew from the agreement with Stolt-Nielsen in March 2004. Stolt-Nielsen responded by filing civil complaints against the government, arguing that the DOJ had illegally breached its contract with Stolt-Nielsen by withdrawing amnesty. The resulting trial in 2005 ruled unanimously in favor of Stolt-Nielsen and its executives. The court issued injunctions restricting the DOJ from indicting the company and found that the DOJ had not provided sufficient proof that Stolt-Nielsen was in breach of contract.

2000s

In 2005 the company saw a 61% in operating income. In 2007 the company voluntarily delisted from NASDAQ, and the DOJ dismissed all antitrust accusations against the company. By the end of 2007 the company had recovered from the dismissed allegations, with a $216.4 million profit and a 12% increase in operating revenue to $1.75 billion. The US Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal of antitrust allegations. The decision enabled Stolt-Nielsen to petition the district court in Philadelphia to dismiss the indictment based on the amnesty agreement—a petition that was successful. The court threw out the three-year attempt to indict Stolt-Nielsen, as it had fully complied with the amnesty agreement they had previously signed.

In 2009 Jacob Stolt-Nielsen stepped down as Chairman, remaining a director of the board. He was succeeded by then Vice-Chairman Christer Olsson, a member of the board since 1993. In 2011 the company transported 17.4 million tons in 12,179 parcels for 410 customers, with ships able to transport more than 600 different chemicals. That year the company had also taken the lead in anti-piracy efforts, spending over $1 million per month to protect its ships, with the use of various technologies and armed guards.

2010s

In the aftermath of Hurricane Isaac, it was discovered that Stolthaven LLC's terminal in Braithwaite, Louisiana (near New Orleans