As Höegh Autoliners Approaches 100, Leif O. Høegh Offers Insights
With plans to celebrate his family’s 100 years in shipping in 2027, Leif O. Høegh, Chair, Höegh Autoliners, takes a moment to reflect on the company’s bold, ‘first mover’ legacy.
In 1927, a young Norwegian entrepreneur named Leif Høegh ordered his first vessel, a tanker named Varg. Backed by the legendary Danish shipowner A.P Møller, the fledgling company survived the Great Depression (and later, World War II) to operate a small fleet of oil tankers. But by the 1960s, the company began to diversify, entering new shipping segments.
“Not all these investments paid off,” said Leif O. Høegh, Chair. “Over the years, we have been involved in everything from cargo ships to LPG carriers, passenger ships to fishing trawlers, and many other projects now lost in the mist of time. In fact, the company has only accumulated capital in maybe the last 20 years of our history.”
Learning from experience
While Høegh acknowledges the company’s history sometimes saddled the company with excess debt, he insists that the company’s willingness to take risks in people, technology and commercial solutions has been the key to its success. “If you don’t take any risks, you don’t learn anything,” he says. “And in today’s environment, as much as in any of the last 100 years, being willing to go first can be an advantage.”
Høegh explains that the company’s entry into the car carrier market grew out of its operation of lift-on/lift-off cargo ships in the 1960s. In 1970, the company formed a joint venture with Ugland to create Höegh-Ugland Auto Liners (HUAL). “HUAL would go on to pioneer the development of roll on roll off vessels and later, Pure Car Truck Carriers (PCTC) in the 1980s,” he says. “In 2000, we acquired Ugland’s stake in the company and five years later, rebranded the company Höegh Autoliners. Since then, we have continued to push the boundaries of this vessel class.”
Sustainability as Strategy
In addition to advanced vessel design to improve flexibility and increase capacity, Höegh Autoliners has placed sustainability at the core of its business strategy. For example, the company’s six high-capacity Horizon class vessels, delivered in 2015 and 2016, were engineered to emit about 50 per cent less CO2 per unit transported compared to standard, conventional car carriers. “As an inherent business value, sustainability lies at the core of Höegh Autoliners’ operations,” he says. “For us, it is not just about compliance, but sustainability leadership.”
But perhaps the company’s biggest innovation to date has been placing an order for 18 multi-fuel Aurora class PCTCs, with an option to add four more. “As the first in the PCTC segment to receive DNV’s ammonia-ready and methanol-ready notations, the Auroras are capable of operating with zero emissions,” he says. “They are the crown jewels of our ground-breaking fleet renewal programme.”
Høegh is aware that optionality costs money but notes that the vessels the company builds today will be operating for up to 30 years. “Shipping is a capital-intensive industry, so when we consider what the next decades, or ideally the next 100 years, will look like for us, it’s all about what decisions we will be able to make in five, 10 or 20 years from now,” he says. “You have to get comfortable with the idea that your option premium might be worthless, but that does not mean the decision was a bad one or that the option has no value.”
Embracing Uncertainty
Høegh says there is a tendency for some people to get overly nervous about all the various unpredictable and hard-to-understand trends in the world. “We have seen a lot of changes in the last century and today is no different,” he says. “We can’t know or control what fuels will be available, how shifting geopolitics will impact the industry or what we can expect as AI develops. You can either think of these things as a series of threats or a series of opportunities, but waiting to find out isn’t a strategy. You must put capital to work and focus on what you can control, from big decisions on vessel design to providing safe, meaningful work for employees and seafarers alike.”
In a highly conservative industry, first movers are often punished, but Høegh believes not everyone can be a smart follower. “The risk matrix analysis they teach in business school will tell you it’s always better to be a smart follower,” he says. “But we have been rewarded for taking risks in the past and I am confident that being a first mover will not only make us more resilient in a changing world it will also show the industry that it can be done. So, in addition to building the Auroras, we are working in partnership with world-leading ammonia and methanol distributors to ensure reliable supply, and with our customers to decarbonise their supply chains.”
Nor-Shipping 2027
Like other players in the industry, Höegh Autoliners relies on a network of suppliers to push the technology forward. And as a main partner of Nor-Shipping 2027, Høegh recognizes that the exhibition provides an important arena for bringing people, ideas, and perspective from across ocean industries together in one place. “For us, Nor-Shipping 2027 will be a valuable opportunity to connect with partners, contribute to the conversation, and showcase the solutions needed for a more sustainable maritime future,” he says. “And despite increasing geopolitical uncertainty, we cannot give up on the institutions, shared principles and networked, global perspectives that make our industry unique.”
