Hans Niels Andersen (10 September 1852 – 30 December 1937) was a Danish shipping magnate, businessman, diplomat and founder of the East Asiatic Company.

He came to Bangkok for the first time in 1873 and advanced to first mate and later master of Thoon Kramom, a ship owned by Chulalongkorn, the king of Siam.

[1][2] In 1912, Andersen commissioned the Copenhagen shipbuilding company Burmeister & Wain to build the MS Selandia, the world's first oceangoing motorship.

[1] During World War I, in which Denmark remained neutral, he was entrusted by the Danish Foreign Minister, Erik Scavenius, with missions to several countries with the purpose of finding an end to the conflict.

[3] Andersen, who was sympathetic to the Allies, was most likely unaware that his diplomatic mission for peace was proposed to the Danish government by the German authorities, who were trying to probe ways to get Russia out of the war, so they could concentrate their efforts on the Western Front.