Olau Line [SEP] dissolved or abolished
Olau Line
Olau Line was a shipping company that existed from 1956 to 1994. It operated a ferry service from the United Kingdom to the Netherlands from 1974 until 1994. Originally based in Denmark, the company passed under ownership of the German TT-Line in 1980.
History.
Olau Line was founded in 1956 by the Danish businessman Ole Lauritzen. Originally the company concentrated in chartering tankers and cargo ships to other shipping companies, but in 1974 Olau Line started a car/passenger ferry services from Sheerness in the
.
MS "Olau Hollandia" was the first newbuild ever to be built for Olau Line. Up until that point the company had operated with used ships purchased or chartered from other companies, but after TT-Line acquired Olau in 1979, the new owners invested in building two new cruiseferries for the company. The "Olau Hollandia" and her sister were more than twice the size of the largest ferries operated by Olau before that point (they were also larger than any ships operated by TT-Line at the time