Ofotens og Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab or OVDS was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

shipping company A shipping line or shipping company is a company whose line of business is ownership and operation of ships. Shipping companies provide a method of distinguishing ships by different kinds of cargo: # Bulk cargo is a type of special cargo that is ...

that operated

ferries A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water tax ...

in Northern Norway, including the Coastal Express, car ferries and passenger ferries. The company

merged Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

with

Troms Fylkes Dampskibsselskap Troms Fylkes Dampskibsselskap or TFDS is a defunct Norwegian shipping company that also has activities in public transport and tourism. Based in Tromsø the company was one of the two operators of the Coastal Express and also operated a number of ...

in 2006 to form

Hurtigruten Group Hurtigruten AS is a Norwegian coastal ferry service and cruise line headquartered in Oslo, Norway. It operates ''Hurtigruten'', the coastal ferry service along the Norwegian coast from which it takes its name. In 2020, 81% of the company was o ...

. OVDS's main office was in

Narvik ( se, Áhkanjárga) is the third-largest municipality in Nordland county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Narvik. Some of the notable villages in the municipality include Ankenesstranda, Ball ...

while the ferry section was located in

Stokmarknes is a town and the administrative centre of Hadsel Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is located on the northern coast of the island of Hadseløya and on the small, neighboring island of Børøya. In 2000, Stokmarknes received " town sta ...

. The company had about 1,500 employees at the time of the merger and operated 14 coastal expresses, 18 car ferries and 14 passenger ferries. OVDS was created as a merger between the two shipping companies

Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab was a Norway, Norwegian shipping company that operated ferry, ferries in Northern Norway. The ferry service was founded by Richard With on 10 November 1881 at Stokmarknes in Nordland, Norway. That same year, the ship ...

(VDS, established in 1881) and Ofoten Dampskipsselskap (ODS, established in 1912).

References

Ferry companies of Norway Defunct shipping companies of Norway Transport companies of Nordland Companies disestablished in 2006 Companies with year of establishment missing {{Norway-shipping-company-stub