Page 19: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 2026)

PER SÆVIK, HAVILA

The Offshore Adventure: Through Havila

Shipping, Per Sævik navigated the PSV and subsea markets through several industry crises.

Pictured: the PSV Havila Charisma.

Image courtesy Havila Shipping ASA “It culminated on a day we were docked in Bergen at four

Building a Community in the afternoon, scheduled to sail at eight that evening with a

When Per speaks of “good decisions,” he doesn’t primarily nearly full ship—only to receive a message that our insurance measure the return by the bottom line. His driving force is the coverage had been canceled,” Per recalls. “At that point, I had joy of creation; it is the belief that one should be of “use and ben- just about had enough. But we knew that if we just gritted e? t” to others. Per views business leaders as community build- our teeth and kept pushing, things would eventually work out. ers with a responsibility that extends far beyond the workplace.

And they did. Today, Havila Voyages doesn’t look half bad.” “In the ? nancial world, it can be tempting to take the easy (For the record: In Per’s world of humble understatement, way out—to invest smartly and let the money work for you,” “not half bad” translates to “very promising.”)

Per says. “But you don’t build a country on capital gains alone. If anything is to happen in a small coastal community “I just wanted to see if I could do it” like ours, it is our responsibility as business leaders to ensure

I meet him in the polar opposite of his home residence: a that employees have a meaningful life outside of working spacious corner of? ce on the fourth ? oor of an architectural hours. We want to help build a community so attractive that it landmark. Constructed of glass and stone with panoramic draws in the best talent.” views of the fjord, the Havila building is known locally as

Today, the coastal town of Fosnavåg boasts a world-class “The Diamond.” concert hall, a four-star hotel with modern conference facil-

If you bypass the elevator and take the stairs from the ground ities, a water park, and a vibrant sports and cultural scene. ? oor up to Havila Holding—climbing past the headquarters of

All of this was made possible by Per and other civic-minded

Havila Voyages and Havila Shipping—you are met at the very business leaders who have injected signi? cant capital—and a ? rst step by a wall adorned with an old photograph of a young burning dedication—into the community.

? sherman in a rowboat. Beside it is the famous quote: “I just wanted to see if I could do it.” “Like driving a screw into cardboard,”

That was six-year-old Per’s answer when his horri? ed the doctor said mother asked what on earth he had been thinking, taking the

Per is in his usual spot behind the desk, a ? xture of his daily rowboat out alone and rowing a full nautical mile from home, life since the Havila Group moved into “The Diamond” in straight across the fjord to the town of Fosnavåg.

2011. Today, however, the computer monitor in front of him

Since then, it has become something of a life rule: the more sits dark and disconnected. His hours here are a fraction of challenging a task, the more exciting it is to attempt.

what they were only a few years ago. In 2023, he underwent “Now that I’ve turned 85, I re? ect on the fact that I really surgery for colon cancer, but a post-operative complication have initiated a lot of things I perhaps lacked the prerequisites forced him back onto the operating table.

for,” Per admits. “If I had made fewer ill-considered invest- “The cancer itself was successfully treated, I think. But be- ments, we would certainly be sitting quite comfortably today.” cause it took too long to catch the complication, a secondary

He has spoken before about the times the family business back injury set in that I still struggle with today. The doctors teetered on the brink of bankruptcy during the oil crisis, entan- won’t operate; they say it would be like trying to drive a screw gled in debt negotiations with eleven different banks, share- into cardboard,” Per says bluntly. “I have to be honest—since holders, and bondholders.

my illness, I don’t have the same drive I once had. It is only “But all in all,” Per continues with a smile, “the good deci- ? tting that I ‘sign out’ now.” sions have outnumbered the bad.” www.marinelink.com 19

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