Remembering Olau

Olau Line was founded in 1956 by the Danish businessman Ole Lauritzen. Originally the company concentrated on chartering tankers and cargo ships to other shipping companies, but in 1974 they started a ferry services between Sheerness to Vlissingen using the Olau Kent and Olau Finn. In 1979 Ole Lauritzen was forced to sell 50% interest in Olau Line to the Germany-based company TT-Line. The following year, TT-Line took full control of the operation and they decided to invest in new, large state-of-the-art cruise ferries for the operation. The new ships were delivered in 1981 and 1982, some eight years later both ships were replaced by larger tonnage. Due to high operating costs and problems with the German seaman’s unions over crewing, they closed the route in May 1994. This book looks back the history of the Olau Line over 20 years and the aftermath of closure when various parties tried to continue the operations but failed with the lack of long-term investment and suitable tonnage.