History...

The Shipbroking company Wonsild & Søn was founded on 20th April 1904 by Valdemar L. Wonsild and his son, Jørgen Wonsild.

Domiciled at no. 31 Amaliegade, Valdemar and Jørgen set out to attempt to make life easier for their transportation seeking clients and to ensure efficient communication they acquired State Telephone no. 184!!

The company was soon to be appointed housebroker for The Danish Sulphuric Acid & Super Phosphate Company, the biggest fertilizer company in Denmark, later known as "Superfos". The activities were later on supplemented by timber chartering from Finland and Sweden to most Danish and German Baltic ports. During the period 1917-21 Wonsild & Søn also managed eight schooners, mostly four-masted fore-and-aft schooners with a gross register tonnage of between 189 and 389. Wonsild furthermore acted as ship agent in the port of Copenhagen.

Shipping has always been an industry with significant ups and downs. One of the worst downs being the economic collapse after the Wall Street "Black Thursday" 24th October 1929. Wonsild & Søn, however, had grown steadily, now having 14 employees and eight extension lines on the telephone! The company took up the challenge, prepared to pull through the world crisis, and could celebrate its 25 years anniversary in high spirits.

Valdemar L. Wonsild died in 1932, and his son Jørgen, died in 1945, when the company continued under the ownership of Jens Wilhelm Jensen and Ove Rasmussen, employed since 1912 and 1917 respectively.

The company survived the meagre days of World War II although it had to see its office at Amaliegade completely destroyed by a fire. Jens W.Jensen and Ove Rasmussen, the two owners, therefore became tenants of a new office at Kvæsthusgade 6 where Wonsild & Søn continued to reside till September 2005, i.e. 60 years!

In 1962 Niels Victor joined Wonsild & Søn as a partner with J.W.Jensen and O.Rasmussen. J.W.Jensen retired in 1972 and O. Rasmussen in 1977 - both having served the company for exactly 60 years!

Jan Meinertz joined the company in 1969 and became a partner with Niels Victor in 1977 at the time of Mr. O. Rasmussen's retirement

During the 1960ies and 1970ies the company built up a large fleet of modern dry cargo coasters and tankers between 299 and 499 gross register tons, 16 coasters and nine tankers at one stage.

In 1970 Wonsild & Søn established a competitive "deep-sea - Dry Cargo Dept" with the aim of assisting the growing local ship owning and operating companies in "going Global". This proved to be a wise decision since the time of the small drycargo coasters was running out, and in the beginning of the 1980ies the company decided to dispose of them, but continued and expanded the tanker activities.  During the first years the dry cargo departement mostly worked within European/Atlantic area, but soon this developed into worldwide trading.

Niels Victor retired in 1996 and passed away in 1998, only two years later.The Victor family was hereafter represented at Board level by his son, Søren Victor.

During the summer of 2002, Wonsild and Søn prepared the path for the next generation and adjusted  the structure of the company. The Shipowning Division was seperated from the Shipbroking Division with the Shipbroking Division continuing as Wonsild and Søn.

Mr. Soren Hahnemann, who had joined Wonsild and Søn in 2001, became Managing Director of Wonsild and Søn and Mr. Jan Meinertz continued as Managing Director of the Shipowning Division.

The  company's 100 years anniversary in 2004 became a landmark in Danish shipping that year.  

In 2005 the Shipowning Division was sold to the Clipper Group and at the same time a management buy-out was effected in Wonsild and Søn. Both companies relocated from the officebuilding in Nyhavn and today Wonsild and Søn is conducting its core business, Shipbroking, from a new inspiring shipping invironment in the Freeport of Copenhagen as well as from a newly established branch office in Melbourne, Australia.