Ofotens og Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab or OVDS was a Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 shipping company that operated ferries

Ferry

A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...

 in Northern Norway, including the Coastal Express

Hurtigruten

Hurtigruten or Hurtigruta is a Norwegian passenger and freight line with daily sailings along Norway's western and northern coast. Sometimes referred to in English as Norwegian Coastal Express, Hurtigruten ships sail almost the entire length of the country, completing the roundtrip journey in 11...

, car ferries and passenger ferries. The company merged with Troms Fylkes Dampskibsselskap

Troms Fylkes Dampskibsselskap

Troms Fylkes Dampskibsselskap or TFDS is a defunct Norwegian shipping company that also has activities in public transport and tourism. Based in Tromsø the company was one of the two operators of the Coastal Express and also operated a number of car ferries and passenger ferries, primarily in...

 in 2006 to form Hurtigruten Group

Hurtigruten Group

Hurtigruten Group is a Norwegian transport corporation with headquarters in Narvik, Norway. The group provides services within bus transport, car ferry transport, tourism in addition to operating the Coastal Express along the Norwegian Coast...

.

OVDS's main office was is Narvik

Narvik

is the third largest city and municipality in Nordland county, Norway by population. Narvik is located on the shores of the Narvik Fjord . The municipality is part of the Ofoten traditional region of North Norway, inside the arctic circle...

 while the ferry section was located in Stokmarknes

Stokmarknes

is a small town on the island of Hadsel in Nordland, Norway. It is the municipality centre of the Hadsel municipality. Township was declared in 2000. It is home to Hurtigruten. The local hospital for the Vesterålen region is situated in Stokmarknes....

. The company had about 1,500 employees at the time of the merger and operated 14 coastal expresses, 18 car ferries and 14 passenger ferries. OVDS was created as a merger between the two shipping companies Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab

Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab

Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab was a Norwegian shipping company that operated ferries in Northern Norway. It was founded by Richard With on 10 November 1881 at Stokmarknes. That same year, the shipping company's first ship - SS Vesteraalen "from 1865 was purchased from Arendals Dampskibsselskab...

 (VDS, established in 1881) and Ofoten Dampskipsselskap (ODS, established in 1912).