Næss did not have the financial resources to study, so he had to work; after a short stint at Midland Bank, he changed over to C. J. Hambro & Son.

The aim of his research was to show how fluctuations in the currency market influenced each nation's prices, and he became a member of the Royal Economic Society in order to follow lectures by Keynes and others.

With the profits he continued into tin, and as he was successful he was offered a job as an analyst by his broker, so leaving him with less time for concluding his research.

Næss found the prospect very interesting, arranged the financing and the first whaling company trading on the LSE started in January 1929.

Næss was back in London in March 1935, and though the market was still down it had improved, due to large purchases of whale oil by the German government.

It was a huge political gamble, but the agreement was signed in Berlin early 1938 and the building of the 14,000 t DWT tanker started at Deutsche Werft in Hamburg.

After delivering some of its cargo to Procter & Gamble in New York and the rest in Liverpool it would act as a bunker vessel in Freetown until 1944, when it departed and was sunk by a German submarine.

By 1938, the company had five vessels, Nore, Norvinn, Norvik, Norlys and Norbris, totalling 56,000 t DWT - a large tanker fleet for that period.

Næss travelled to Norway in April 1940, as he had been requested by the British Ministry of Trade to contact Norwegian shipowners that did not fully support the blockade of Germany.

Næss was pessimistic about Norway's chances towards the German invasion and escaped Oslo on 10 April, heading westwards by air.

In August 1940, Næs arrived in New York on the White Star/Cunard liner Scythia, and he immediately proceeded to secure premises in State Street for his company office.

He was not satisfied with how Nortraship was administered and wanted Næss to manage the organisation, as he had established connections with the United States Maritime Commission.

Næss stayed for another year and, together with Nortraship's representative in Washington, George O. Mejlænder, a number of vessels were secured for Norwegian owners.

Nortuna bought four old US general cargo ships, and two 11,500 t DWT liners were ordered from Mitsubishi Shipbuilding & Engineering in Tokyo, to be built by their dock in Yokohama.

Næss also counter-charged by attending a conference with major British newspapers on 10 July 1958, where he stressed his view that flags of convenience did not need to be substandard.

As the years 1959 - 1961 were bad in the tanker market Næss placed his attention on developing large bulk carriers and arranging "affreightment" contracts for them.

Næss pushed his chief naval architect T. M. Karlsen to keep researching the combined vessel, also checking in on various failed projects like the Mando Theodoracopulos.

In 1964, the Naess group started a collaboration with P&O in the form of the jointly owned company Associated Bulk Carriers, thus giving them access to P&O's vast technical department.

The last hurdles were cleared under a meeting at the A. G. Weser shipyard in Bremen on 6 April 1964, and a contract for building the first combined vessel was signed.

The OBO ship could then trade with bulk cargoes when that market was on top, and change to oil when the demand for tanker tonnage was high.

In twelve years the Anglo Norness fleet had expanded into one of the largest in the world, with 58 vessels totalling 2,450,000 DWT including new buildings and charters.

With a strong financial situation Næss started thinking about the group's long-term strategy; the world economy was volatile, and there were inflationary pressure and currency problems.

As Zapata had its offices in Houston it became tedious for Næss to attend board meetings; he withdrew and his son Michael was elected in his place.

By 1972 Næss grew more and more concerned over the huge volume of new buildings, he feared a collapse of the market and was thus positive when approached by P&O and Hilmar Reksten who offered to buy his fleet.

Due to the large number of new buildings the rates in 1975 gave the shipowners huge losses; some $125 million on Persian Gulf to Europe alone.

As the INTERTANKO president Næss concentrated on scrapping old tonnage, pollution and utilizing supertankers as floating storage tanks.

In trying to reduce the surplus tonnage Næss however got into arguments with the US Justice Department as they were on the verge of viewing his actions as violating the anti-trust laws.

His job of promoting scrapping of old tonnage was however made easier by the grounding of the Argo Merchant off Nantucket in December 1976, a 23-year-old run-down tanker.

As a citizen of Bermuda Næss was acutely aware of the problem with marine pollution; taking a walk on his beach he could easily spot lumps of tare that most probably came from tankers.

Næss settled in Bermuda, buying land and building a hotel, but well into his old age, seemed always on the lookout for a good deal that could have him started again in shipping.