An involuntary ship owner: Swedish state involvement in shipping during the 1970s and 1980s

Abstract

This article contributes to modern shipping history by analysing the Swedish state’s role as a ship owner in the 1970s and 1980s, when it at most controlled a fleet of 47 ships of six million deadweight tonnes, making it one of the world’s largest ship owners. The article, departing from a theoretical framework of the ‘state as entrepreneur’, describes the conception, functioning and dismantling of two state-owned shipping companies, Zenit and Uddevalla (UV) Shipping, and throws light on a hitherto undocumented aspect of modern Swedish maritime history. It argues that Zenit and UV Shipping had a significant impact on the development of the Swedish shipping industry in the 1970s and the 1980s.