Great ropes since 1772

2. The first ropewalk in Norway
was built in 1693 in Kristiansand
– between Løkka and Baneheia.
52 years after the city was
founded in 1641

3. At this time, before the industrial revolution, there
was a real professionalism in ropemaking.
A ropemaker was only deemed suitably experienced if
they had travelled far and wide and had worked in
different ropewalks

4. During the 18th Century, the local
goverment in Oslo (Christiania) were
in the practice of granting business
monopolies. Johannes Petersen Arbo
had the monopoly for ropemaking

5. This monopoly was lifted as the ship
merchants complained to local
officials that Arbo never had the
correct rope they needed

6. In 1751, the ropewalk of Arbo and Wiel in Stromsø
burnt to the ground

7. Niels Torgensen, son of renowned
Sollerud shopowner Torger
Erichsen Lysager is very interested
in starting his own ropewalk in
Chistiania – having been fascinated
by ropes whilst at sea and spending
time learning ropemaking in
England

8. In 1772, with the support of liberal goverment
official Johan Friedrich Strudensee, Niels Torgensen
forms a new rope company Christiania Reeperbahne

9. At that time, the Palæhaven area of Christiania
(now Jernbanetorget) now had three paper mills,
one soap factory, one oil mill, one shipyard, one
ship crane and Christiania Reeperbahne

10. At this time, the adjacent fjord had become very shallow due to
timber effluent.
Torgensen then made two major acquisitions…

11. …in 1777, he was allowed to start
building his own industrial ropewalk
on this new landfill (giving him
immediate access to passing fjord
traffic) and in 1793 he bought the
city’s ship crane and a repair shop

12. The ropewalk was divided into 3 parts:
- The first part was on two levels, with a
workshop below and a loft space above
- The second part was an enclosed
ropewalk of 163m
- Ending with an open air ropewalk of
163m

13. Growing in years, Torgensen allowed two of his sons to
inherit his largest industrial assets. Torger received the ship
crane in 1798 and in 1799 Carl took control of the ropewalk

14. In the 1800s, a rival Niels Møller applied for permission
to build a second ropewalk in the area, but without
sufficient ropewalking knowledge, he only achieved a
license to make crochet linen and untarred ropes

15. By 1800, the shipping fleet of
Christiania had grown from 7 (in 1767)
to 44. There was a new liberalisation of
business trade. More passing vessels and
a growing demand for timber catalysed
real growth in rope sales

16. There were fires in the harbour in both 1814 and 1819. The
second lasted for 24 hours, causing huge damages to buildings,
timber stores and was close to reaching town dwellings. With
no insurance being offered.
Niels Torgensen passed away the very same year

17. Most companies would not recover. However, due to the
wealth of the Torgensen estate and their reputation for
ropemaking in the city, the family were able to re-build
the ropewalk. Now stretching to 200m, with open sides,
extra storage and a new area for boiling tar

18. With one of the longest ropewalks in Europe and a prime
location for export the company begins to develop

19. Carl Torgensen died in 1834, so
a ship captain called Jørgen
Christian Smith took control of
the rope business. He enlisted a
German sailmaker, called
Wilhelm Timm (from Altona)
to join a partnership

20. The loft space became increasingly
popular with ship captains. Here
they would relax and discuss the
state of the shipping market and
offer solutions to the general
working conditions

21. In December 1846, in the loft of
Christiania Reeperbahne, the
Christiania Sømandsforening was
formed. This seafarers union was a
forum for linking sailors together and
a platform to discuss improvements in
working conditions. Wilhelm Timm
acted as treasurer for a time. The
organisation is now known as
Oslo Sjømannsforening

22. Then in 1854 the city began building the first railway

23. In 1857, the company’s identity
changed completly, as
Wilhelm Timm acquires the
firm and renames it
Timms Reperbane

24. For a period the railway tracks
passed through Timms
ropewalk, so the ropewalk level
was lowered. Ultimately
however, the ropewalk stood in
the way of railway expansion -
so Timm was forced to move
production east to the area of
Helsfyr in 1872
Christiania, 1855

25. Helsfyr, 1880
The company was now based
far from the main city and
shipping trade. The local station
of Bryn provided a transport
link, but horse and cart was the
main method of delivery

26. Wilhelm Timm died in 1875, with the company
responsibilities falling to his sons Ernst and Gustav

27. The Norwegian fleet was swelling, but the introduction
of steam powered ships and later motorships meant the
demand for ropes per vessel declined (less rigging)

28. By 1880, with an economic downturn and a lower demand
for ropes per vessel, Timm was suffering financially

29. The two sons began searching for new investors, forming a
holding company assuming control of the factory, machinery
and inventory – keeping Gustav in top management with
Wilhelm Francke of Switzerland and Ernst as Rope Master

30. Ernst Timm continued as a Factory Director until his death in 1896

31. The name of the company was changed to A/S Timms Dampreperbane
(steam rope walk), offering shared company liability

32. Fishing and whaling then
began to bring new fortune to
the company

33. Helsfyr, 1900

34. In 1917, the company was renamed A/S Timms Reperbane. In 1920 the
factory was ringfenced as its own entity Fabrikaktieselskapet Timm
(later A/S Timms Reperbane – which is still displayed across the old factory)

35. During WWI, it was difficult to
obtain sufficient supplies for
production, as England held back
materials – in fear of finished
ropes being sold to Germany

36. After the war, the firm had several bumper
years and then the depression hit
Timm storage and office, Skippergata 19, 1906

37. Between 1921 – 1949, Harald Rasmussen
was the Managing Director and through
his efforts kept the company afloat during
a most challenging period. Manila and Sisal
fiber imports stopped during WWII and
what little rope was produced had to be
sold locally, outwith the German reach

38. Part of the production machinery was re-calibrated
to spin paper into twine and packing ropes

39. The demand for rope was very high after
the war, but it was still very difficult to
obtain enough raw materials

40. J.M.Feiring was now steering the company
and managed to remove all debts, creating
new liquidity and attracted new investment

41. 1880s 1930s 1935 1939
First
artificial silk
Nylon
Polyethylene
LDPE
1941
Polyester
1951
Polypropylene
HDPE
LLDPE
UHMWPE
UHMW
HPPE
HMPE
1953 1960s
WWI 1914-1919 WWII 1939-1945
1900s
Critical timeline for
synthetic fibers

42. From the development of Nylon in 1930,
through WWII, came many new advances
in synthetic fibers – which became the new
standard for fiber rope technology

43. Feiring successfully steered Timm
into synthetic rope production,
maintaining the company’s market
competitiveness

44. In 1970, at the age of eighty, Feiring
retired and passed control to Hans Strand
(who had joined Timm in 1951). This was
the first time a ropemaker had assumed
control of the company

45. This was a difficult beginning, as the
shipping crisis hit at the start of the
1970s, with shipowners having stetched
their business contracts too far and the
market collapsed

46. Hans Strand had to quickly find new
markets for their products. So using the
pin prick method and selected contacts,
he widen the net for export globally to
places such as Pireus and Singapore and
maintained his strategy of answering
every enquiry received. To his major
credit, the company never saw red
numbers throughout the 1970s

47. One important new trade relationship was formed
with an agent in Reykjavik in Iceland, reigniting
Timm’s fortunes in fishing – with a lead core rope
proving a very successful new product line

48. The 1980’s brought a new global
financial outlook of investment and
wealth, but this hindered Timms
ability to maintain their factory
workforce in Oslo – as shift work
was less desired

49. The savour was the influx of
new immigrants to Norway
and the company began to
have a settled workforce.
Overall competence and
experience grew and in 1997
(225 year jublilee) there was 11
nationalities within the team

50. Strand realised the growing potential
of Asian rope development and
carefully selected two partners for
licensed rope production in Korea
and India. He also established a
portfolio of other suppliers for steel
wires and global distribution

51. The 1990’s brought an important milestone for Timm,
as they began a new collaborative project with
Maersk Line. Together they engineered a new mooring
solution for Maersk vessels – Timm Signal Master.
Today known as Timm Master, versions of ropes and
tails are still sold worldwide – most recently to the
entire Triple-E Fleet

52. Also during the 1990’s, Timm
formed a lasting relationship with
cabling solutions company Nexans.
Deliveries to Nexans added a stable
revenue platform for Timm and
remain a key account customer for
the firm

53. In 2001, Tore Strand took
over responsibility for the
company from his father

54. Due to the growing labour costs
in Norway, the board decided to
search for a new factory location
within the EU. In 2001, they
built a brand new factory in
Trencin, Slovakia

55. Through streamlined investment and a precise launch
phase, Timm Slovakia s.r.o became the main production
arm for Timm, with the Helsfyr factory closing in 2003

56. Now the Timm group (Timm AS) was
made up of two sister companies:
- Timm Marine AS
(management and sales)
- Timm Slovakia s.r.o
(production and wholesale)

57. In 2008 Tore Strand led the company
towards HMPE fiber development.
Having seen the advances made in
Asian fibers and the growing
applications for high performance
ropes he asked his long-term
colleague - Technical Manager
Roscislaw Solowiej - to begin a new
R&D test centre in Slovakia

58. With new investment from Krefting A/S,
BSN A/S and his own Skarbu A/S,
Tore Strand managed to control the
financial investment of the Slovakian
factory, add state-of-the-art testing
machinery (for abrasion and MBL testing)
and refine the HMPE prototypes

59. In 2013, Timm launched Acera™
genuine HMPE fiber and developed a
range of customised products for the
cruise, fishing, offshore / seismic and
LNG tanker markets