February 1951 the entire staff is gathered. In the background, the "KNM Rapp" |
The actual beginning of today’s Båtservice started in August 1948 when Westermoen Båtbyggeri AS in Mandal, located on the South coast of Norway was established. The name was subsequently changed to Båtservice Verft AS in 1964. The initial production at the shipyard consisted of small pleasure boats.
1949-Design and MTB Prototype Production for the Royal Norwegian Navy
In 1949 Båtservice entered into an agreement with the Royal Norwegian Navy for the design and prototype production for the MTB "Rapp". After the torpedo boats we continued to deliver three minesweepers of the US AMS-60 class. In total 42 MTB vessels of the "Tjeld" class were built for the Royal Norwegian Navy, western Germany, the US Navy and the Greek Navy. In addition six MTBs of the "Snøgg" class were built and delivered. |
1955-The first civilian steel ship
Our first civilian steel ship was a small coastal liner ordered by the Stavangerske DS, she was built and delivered in 1955. Our production has also included car/trailer ships, ferries, heavy-lift ships, tugs, barges and chemical tank carriers. From this period and forward Båtservice delivered approximately 100 vessels in sizes from 299 BRT to 1599 BRT. Also to be mentioned, Båtservice built a number of fishing vessels in plastic, wood and steel. One of our major projects consisted of the building and delivery of 20 pieces - 45 ft patrol boats to the Indian Customs Services. |
Adjusting to modern times
Our shipyard has managed to adjust to the demands of todays modern markets, with deliveries in the maritime and offshore areas. In 1972 we delivered the first Norwegian built offshore supply vessel for a German ship owner. In addition a number of vessels were built and delivered for standby, seismic and ROV survey purposes. during the last 20 years, we have focused on the building high speed vessels in aluminium and recently passenger catamarans in carbon fiber. In recent years our production has consisted of passenger catamarans, oil pollution cats, crew cargo cats, pilots and search and rescue vessels. |
Innovation since 1948
Today our focus is on building quality vessels that are fast, fuel efficient and have low fuel emissions. With over 60 years experience we now count a total of builds to be around 1000 vessels, during this time the main materials used have been, wood, steel, stainless steel, aluminium, fiber glass and carbon fiber.
With quality shipbuilding knowledge and craftmanship, we are able to deliver quality that is higher than the price.