He was the son of Sigval Bergesen, who was also a shipping magnate, but in 1935 he broke with his father to form his own company.

By the time of the war he then had three major tankers, though Charles Racine was hit by torpedoes and destroyed in 1942.

Two of its OBO ships, MS Berge Istra and MS Berge Vanga disappeared under mysterious, however similar circumstances in 1975 and 1979, and the company to this day keeps all information about the disasters secret.

It is the world's largest owner and operator of gas carriers, a business segment it moved into in 1978, and has a large fleet of liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers.

This article related to a Norwegian ship transport company is a stub.