Det Stavangerske Dampskibsselskap

During a funeral at Jelsa, north of Stavanger, Norway, in 1854, the trader Ole Thorsen discussed the idea of launching a steamship company that would operate on a regular basis on the fjords of the county Rogaland, between Stavanger and Ryfylke. There were several important men present during the funeral and the idea struck. The idea was since debated in several newspaper articles in the fall of 1854.

A large article in the newspaper "Stavanger Amtstidende og Adresseavis" emphasised the need for better communication between Stavanger and Ryfylke and publicly endorsed the establishing of a steamship company. Stavanger Handelsforening, the chamber of commerce in Stavanger, at their general meeting on 9 November 1854, also endorsed the idea and started issuing shares for the establishing of a steamship company. On 12 February 1855, the founding General Assembly of what would become Det Stavangerske Dampskibsselskap was held. The initial shareholders gave the Executive Board power of attorney to purchase a steamship with 50–60 horsepower. The ship was contracted in Scotland. On Tuesday 30 October 1855, the ship named "Ryfylke" came to Stavanger, with its captain Johan Gjemre on the bridge. The ship was a sensation and drew much attention. On Saturday 3 November, "Ryfylke" had its maiden voyage with both invited guests and paying passengers, and on Wednesday 7 November 1855 its first regular trip on its designated route took place.

The first years of operation were difficult, with too little revenue. Revenue from mail freight eased the burden, but at the general meeting in 1858, proposals were made for the dissolution of the company. A decision in the Norwegian Parliament Stortinget on state subsidies for private steamship was a turning point. At the same time, Stavanger was developing rapidly. The herring industry was good, which laid the foundation for much of the future shipping and the prosperity of trading. In 1867 DSD got its second ship, the 125 feet long steamship "Stavanger". In 1869, the steamship "Haukelid" followed and the year after the steamship "Skjold". After this "Ryfylke" was taken out of regular operation and used as a reserve ship. From then on, the company was profitable.

In recent times, DSD has had a number of difficult years behind it. From 2011 to 2015, the traditional Stavanger company had a total pre-tax loss of NOK 770 million. In 2016, the results were positive for the first time since 2010, with pre-tax profit of NOK 71.8 million. The reason for this was a significant improvement in revenue by the ferry company Norled, and also improvement by DSD Shipping.

2017 was even better, as the DSD Group had a turnover of NOK 5.9 billion, an increase of 70 percent from NOK 3.5 billion the year before, and a pre-tax profit of NOK 68 million. The reason for the enormous growth was that DSD became a sole proprietor of the Tide bus company in 2017, which was subsequently made a subsidiary of the group, and that Nor Lines AS, had been sold to the shipping company Samskip.

In May 2019, DSD decided to sell Norled AS to CBRE Group and CapMan for an estimated 3-4½ billion NKR. Norled is one of Norway's largest maritime and passenger transport companies, operating ferry and express ferry routes in fjords and along the coast of Norway.