HISTORY
FROM THE BEGINNING
Founded by Friman and Ottosson
The company that now goes under the name Lidan Marine was started in 1909 by the smith and mechanic Carl Friman, together with the turner Carl Ottosson. Carl grew up in modest circumstances. Even so, he dreamed of owning his own company. In the meeting with the turner Carl Ottosson, the dream could come true and together they founded the company Lidans Motorverkstad. To start with, they mostly worked with repairs. To aid them, they had a few machines that were manually operated. However, Carl Friman thought the company should have some form of own manufacturing and started to construct a paraffin motor to run the workshop. The efforts to produce this motor were purely speculative.
"In our history we have experienced the evolution from low pressure hydraulics into the wider range of applications given by high pressure hydraulics and electric drives."
THE STORY OF NEW YEARS EVE
Among the stories, there is the one about when Carl Friman, on New Years Eve 1908 was turning the engine’s crankshaft and obtained the help of his wife, who loyally tramped the lathe until the clock struck twelve for the New Year. Eventually the motor was finished, and for several years, it served to drive lathes and drills in the workshop. Carl Friman, who must have been a forward-looking, practical man and visionary, observed that loading and unloading the vessels in Lidköping’s harbour was heavy work, since the winches were turned by hand. He had the idea to manufacture a motorised winch with a hot bulb motor as the driving force. It worked perfectly, and things now started to go really well for Lidan, whose reputation for manufacturing motorised winches quickly spread in seafaring circles. After the Second World War, when herring abounded in great numbers along the Norwegian west coast and Norway started to build up its decimated fishing fleet, Lidan’s sales of motorised winches reached record heights. During the 1960s, fishing boats started to be constructed in steel; Lidan kept up and manufactured hydraulically powered trawl winches. When the fishing fleets eventually thinned out, they were replaced by Swedish requests within Offshore, starting with advanced systems for anchoring, mooring and handling.
HISTORY MILESTONES
1909-
1940
Lidan Marine started of as a supplier of crude oil motors (hot bulb motor) and followed up with delivering the first cargo winch driven by crude oil motor in 1912, continuing for the following decades. In the 1940´s Lidan Marine delivered a large number of winches to the Norwegian fishing fleet after World War II.
1950
At the start of the 1950s the company launched is own low pressure hydraulic motor. Some of these systems are still in operation. Our service personnel meet satisfied customers who thank themselves for their choice of supplier.
1960
In the mid 1960s Lidan decided to start offering its market high pressure hydraulic solutions. This started a revolution in the company’s business development.
1970
In the 1970s the company became a leading supplier of winch systems with constant tension technology for RoRo ships. A number of mooring systems were ordered for offshore rigs and Lidan successfully took on the challenge of designing a motion compensated system for the handling of diving bells. The company had its first shipments of electric winch systems.
1980
In the beginning of the 1980s Lidan had its first shipment to supply vessels for the US navy. Lidan became the number one global supplier of winch systems for RoRo ships.
1990
Lidan Marine had its first order for Active Heave Compensated systems with naval applications. In the second half of the decade General Dynamics selected Lidan Marine as the supplier of Towed Array Systems, Variable Depth Systems and Launch and Recovery Systems for the anti-submarine warfare on the Visby class corvette.
2000
The first years of the new century has meant a continuous technology evolution. Lidan Marine was selected as a supplier of state of the art AHC systems to the offshore and seismic industries. Lidan Marine supplied a series of handling systems to the US and French navies. A new era of offshore activities started in 2005 when Lidan Marine was awarded a contract for umbilical winches for Work Class ROV’s.
2010
Lidan Marine was selected as a supplier of state of the art hoist systems to world leading entrance door manufacturer. This decade also started Lidan journey to supply enviromently friendly solutions for Hydropowerplant solutions. Lidan continued to increase business relations within Naval and Subsea operations. Delivering multiple LARS to clients world wide.
2020
Lidan starts the journey towards autonomous systems with deliveries to both Naval and subsea clients. The industry business area expands with a series production of winches to the international aquaculture industry.