Sohmen-pao family
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Treading Water and Renewal
1990s
Diversifying for the Future
Beyond 2020
Small Beginnings
Sir Y.K. Pao was barely 30 years old in 1948 when he moved from Shanghai to Hong Kong. With friends and family he began the World-Wide Steamship Company Limited in 1955.
The first ship, Golden Alpha, was bought in 1955 and was joined in quick succession by a further five vessels. They were all put on period charters with Japanese and Hong Kong companies. With freight rates rising following the closure of the Suez Canal in 1956, and the rapid industrialization of Japan, business boomed.
A Stormy Start
World-Wide entered the tanker market in the mid-1960s with the purchase of a second-hand tanker that had a British Petroleum charter attached, named World Oriental. Despite the multiple rejections from charterers it faced just
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Asia is booming but will Austria's economy also benefit? Dr. Helmut Sohmen, a successful attorney and manager living in Hong Kong, in 1991 asked this very question. In an effort to find answers, he created the Sohmen Far East Foundation and the Sohmen Far East Scholarship, enabling Austrian academics to conduct research benefitting Austrian-Asian relations. Over 50 scholarship holders have had the opportunity to conduct research in Asia to benefit the Austrian economy. Many of us understand just how important financial support to conduct scientific projects can be, especially in support of cross-cultural, cost-intensive research projects.
We are therefore all the more pleased that this year, the board of trustees at the Sohmen Far East Foundation have guaranteed Kathrin Mayr, a university assistant and dissertation candidate of Prof. Dr. Christoph Teller (head of the Institute for Retailing, Sales and Marketing at the Johannes Kepler University Linz) a scholarship in the amount of €10,000.
As someone who has lived, worked in, and learned to love Asia over the past years,
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| Helmut Sohmen Chairman Pacific Basin Economic Council |
Helmut Sohmen was born in 1939 in Linz, Austria. He has been a resident of Hong Kong since 1970. He is Chairman and President of the World-Wide Shipping Group of companies which own and operate a large tanker and bulk carrier fleet from offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, London, Bermuda and Toronto. He is also Chairman of N&T Argonaut AB in Stockholm, one of Sweden's largest tanker companies.
Sohmen is a Director and Chairman of the Pacific Basin Economic Council and has served as the Chairman of its Hong Kong, China Member Committee. Over the years, Sohmen has been involved with many industry and community activities and serves on the boards of several other companies, including HSBC Holdings PLC in London and the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in Hong Kong. He has been Chairman of the International Maritime Industries Forum in London, President of the Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO) in Copenhagen, Chairman of the Hong Kong Shipowners Association and the Hong Kong General C
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