Klas Brogren (1956-2013)
This morning I received the very sad news from Halmstad in
Sweden that my friend Klas Brogren had died. Klas was the founder, owner and
life force behind ShipPax – a major shipping industry publishing company. He
did a great deal to encourage and assist me; his kindness and generosity were
unstinting and he was so typically Swedish in the very best sense – thoughtful,
honest, loyal and democratic.
As a schoolboy interested in ferries, he travelled in the
early ‘70s with his Danish friend Ivar Moltke to study all of the latest
vessels, contributing articles to the shipping journals of the era. When Tor
Line were planning their famous North Sea cruise ferries Tor Britannia and Tor
Scandinavia, Klas and Ivar were ‘employed’ by the company to sample and report
back on numerous rival ferries and also to dream up innovative design ideas.
Thereafter, Klas founded his own shipbroker and consultancy company, Plus 2
Ferry Consultation, which later transformed into ShipPax.
Readers of the ShipPax publications Cruise & Ferry Info,
Designs and Guide will know that these were far from being dry and dreary
productions; on the contrary, they were devised with all of Klas’ enthusiasm
for ro-ro, passenger shipping and ship design and the diverse range of articles
they carried reflected his enquiring mind. Through his analysis and sage advice
to the ferry industry, Klas must have contributed to many companies’ successes.
Aside from doing a job that was also a hobby, Klas was a loving father who did so much to encourage his talented children Ejje and Cecilia in
their careers in architecture and design. Sadly, in 2009, Klas was diagnosed
with cancer, which he battled bravely for more than four years. When I last saw
him in the spring of 2012, he remained stoically determined to overcome his
disease.
