E-navigation company NAVTOR has announced that Tor A. Svanes, the founder of C-MAP Norway, has been named Managing Director.

Svanes is known within the maritime industry for his contribution to the development of ECDIS and the electronic chart concept.

Stavanger-based Smedvig established NAVTOR in June 2011 as requirements for electronic navigation charts (ENCs) moved towards an official IMO mandate, Smedvig saw an opening to build up an e-navigation company that could meet the new demand for digital navigational services.

“In Egersund, we established NAVTOR together with experienced personnel from the maritime industry, all with extensive know-how in electronic chart production and distribution. Svanes is the latest to join the company and with his background as founder of C-MAP Norway (now Jeppesen, part of Boeing) and his contribution to the development of ECDIS and the electronic chart concept, we are confident that we have the ultimate team to fulfill our aspirations,” stated Odd Torland, chairman of NAVTOR.

Svanes will replace Hilton Cowie who will take the position of business development manager.

Svanes commented: “The need for a seamless ENC Service is our core focus and we will also be adding a range of related navigational products and services. I am sure NAVTOR will be a major contributor to simplifying the e-navigation concept in practice.

With its head office in Egersund, NAVTOR has a team of personnel with extensive experience in the development, marketing, sales and support of official electronic charts and navigational information services for the professional maritime market. NAVTOR has a subsidiary in St. Petersburg manned by technical experts specializing in the field of ECDIS kernels and maritime software development.

The Norwegian naval captain Peder Smedvig founded a shipping company in Stavanger in 1915, which over the first half of last century became one of the key ship owners in Norway. When oil was discovered in the North Sea in the 1960s, the company moved into the offshore oil industry with investments in supply ships, oil tankers and, in 1973, built the first Norwegian owned drilling rig “West Venture”. The company acquired multiple rigs throughout the 1970s and 1980s and took the drilling company public in 1990. Today, the Smedvig family office is an international investment company with interests in multiple asset classes. The head office is still located in Stavanger and with the establishment of NAVTOR the company has reentered the shipping industry.