Every day, some of the world’s largest cruise ships, with space for over 5,000 passengers, dock in ports such as Bergen, Stavanger, Oslo, Haugesund and Ålesund. When the passengers disembark in these cities, the competition for tourist dollars is fierce. Both Stromma and Hop on AS offer hop-on hop-off trips in their red double-decker buses, but sometimes the rivalry gets too tough. In Haugesund this summer, a scuffle broke out between employees of the two companies outside the sales stalls in the cruise port of Karmsund harbour. Acting port director Tine Osmundsen says Karmsund harbor deployed extra guards when a scuffle broke out between the employees of Stromma and Hop on AS. Photo: Karmsund harbor – We immediately put in increased security until we got an overview of the situation and the course of events, says acting harbor director Tine Osmundsen in Karmsund harbour. According to Osmundsen, Karmsund harbor has had a close dialogue with the management of the two companies after the incident. – We expect everyone involved in cruise calls with us to act professionally and give our guests a good experience, says Osmundsen. Stromma’s managing director, Ole Asgeir Madland, is pleased with the way Karmsund harbor handled the riot. Stromma CEO Ole Asgeir Madland takes the incident seriously. Photo: Stromma – We take such situations in which our employees are involved seriously. They are trained and followed up on conflict-mitigating behaviour. When it comes to this particular situation, we are grateful that the Port of Karmsund quickly took action. Hop on AS believes that Stromma is to blame for the episode. – It is a well-known tactic of Stromma to provoke Hop on personnel at the destinations, says general manager Rino Ødegård of Hop on AS. He believes that what happened in Haugesund was that the Hop on employee was physically attacked and had to defend himself. Here, the two rivals sell tickets side by side in Haugesund. Photo: Marthe Synnøve Susort Johannessen / news Stromma, for his part, believes that the reason for the incident was that an employee at Hop on AS has behaved provocatively towards their employees over time. But why is the rivalry between the two companies so fierce? We find the answers in the legal system. Convicted of sabotage At the center of the dispute are the married couple Are Muzuri and Vår Na-Ji Grytbakk. Today, Muzuri owns Hop on AS after he bought the company in April 2023. He is operations manager at Hop on AS, while his wife is HR manager. But until 2019, Grytbakk owned 49 percent of competitor Stromma Norway. She was the general manager of the company, while her husband was the operations manager. A conflict caused Grytbakk to sell out in May 2019, after a few minutes Muzuri was dismissed. He was accused of sabotage. The sightseeing buses run through the center of Haugesund all day long during the cruise season. Photo: Marthe Synnøve Johannessen / news He was later also convicted of this in the Borgating Court of Appeal. The court found it proven that Muzuri, when he was operations manager at Stromma in 2019, both in Bergen, Stavanger, Oslo, Ålesund and Geiranger “encouraged embezzlement, disloyally contributed to a reduction in ticket sales and that tickets were sold with unnecessary discounts.” And this is not the only conflict between the companies that has ended up in court, a full overview of legal conflicts can be found in the fact box below, here is a brief summary: Court case 1: Are Muzuri was sentenced in the spring of 2023 in the Borgarting Court of Appeal to pay Stromma 2 million kroner for unfair actions. Court case 2: Stromma lost a lawsuit against Hop on AS and Vestland county municipality in the Gulating Court of Appeal, and had to pay the other party’s legal costs. The background to the lawsuit was that in 2022 Hop on AS was exempted from the license obligation by the administration in Vestland county municipality to run tours in Bergen, even though the politicians said no. Court case 3: Hop On AS won a lawsuit against Stromma in the Borgarting Court of Appeal in January 2024. The case was an afterthought from 2022, where Hop on AS lost a month’s income due to the lawsuit from Stromma. Stromma had to pay NOK 850,000 in compensation and NOK 300,000 in court costs. The conflict year by year December 2018: Married couple Are Muzuri and Vår Na-Ji Grytbakk establish the company Grytbakk Holding AS with a share of 50 per cent each. May 2019: Our Na-Ji Grytbakk sells the shares in Stromma Norway for NOK 24 million. June 2019: The management at Stromma receives a tip that operations manager Are Muzuri is engaging in sabotage against the company at the various destinations. Stromma hires outside fraud experts, and their conclusion is that stickers were sold instead of tickets, that cash was kept outside the business and that an excessive number of children’s tickets were sold. 4 July 2019: Are Muzuri resigns from his job at Stromma. 6 August 2019: Muzuri is exempted from work duty and dismissed on 1 October 2019. 2020: Our Na-Ji Grytbakk and Stromma reach a settlement after six months in which the parties accuse each other of various offences. Spring 2022: Are Muzuri denies all charges and is acquitted in the Romerike and Glåmdal district court, after Stromma sued him for NOK 17 million. Stromma is sentenced to pay the legal costs to Muzuri of almost NOK 2.2 million. Stromma is appealing the verdict. 2022-2024: Hop on AS is exempted from the license obligation by the administration in Vestland county municipality to run tours in Bergen, even though the politicians said no. Stromma is going to court to have the decision overturned. Stromma won the first round with a temporary injunction, but the Hordaland district court overturned the decision so that Hop on AS could start up in Bergen a month later than planned. Stromma believed that this was in violation of the Occupational Transport Act and took legal action against both Hop on AS and Vestland County Council. Stromma lost the case both in the district court and in the Gulating Court of Appeal, and was sentenced to pay the other party’s legal costs. Hop on AS lost a month of income in the summer of 2022 as a result of the temporary injunction, and took legal action against Stromma. Hop on AS won the case both in the district court and in the Borgarting Court of Appeal in January this year. The Court of Appeal sentenced Stromma to pay Hop on AS NOK 850,000 in compensation and to cover the legal costs of NOK 300,000. 1 January 2023: Are Muzuri takes over Grytbakk’s stake in their joint company Grytbakk Holding. The company has now changed its name to Star Holding. Spring 2023: The appeal case between Stromma and Are Muzuri is heard in the Eidsivating Court of Appeal. The court splits in two, but the majority finds it proven that Muzuri both in Bergen, Stavanger, Oslo, Ålesund and Geiranger “encouraged embezzlement, unfairly contributed to a reduction in ticket sales and that tickets were sold with unnecessary discounts.” Muzuri is sentenced to pay NOK 2 million in compensation, but does not have to pay Stromma’s legal costs. April 2023: Are Muzuri buys all the shares in Hop on AS through the company Star Holding. – He wanted to start his own and outcompete us CEO Ole Madland in Stromma believes that Muzuri’s purchase of Hop On AS shortly after the verdict in April 2023 shows that the company was right in its assumptions. – It is not surprising. We have always believed that it was Muzuri who controlled Hop On AS. As an employee, he was also clear that he wanted to start his own and outcompete us, says managing director Ole Asgeir Madland in Stromma. According to Are Muzuri in Hop on AS, Stromma first received an offer to buy Hop on AS during the pandemic, but that it was turned down. If you look closely at the buses, you can see that they represent different companies. Photo: Marthe Synnøve Johannessen / news – It is correct that the holding company Star Holding AS today owns 100 percent of the shares in Hop On AS, and that I, Are Muzuri, own Star Holding AS. I have no further comments on this, says Are Muzuri to news. Stromma demanded NOK 17 million from Muzuri, but only received NOK 2 million. In practice, he did not have to pay this sum as Stromma, in a settlement with Grytbakk, withheld NOK 2 million of the sale price of NOK 24 million pending the outcome of the court case between Muzuri and Stromma. Although Stromma did not receive the sum they demanded, managing director Ole Asgeir Madland is satisfied with the verdict. – It was a difficult situation for the company. We did investigations when we realized something was happening. Stromma is satisfied that the Court of Appeal rules what it does, says Madland. Are Muzuri is of a different opinion. He is satisfied that Stromma did not win with the high compensation amount and that the parties must cover their own legal costs. – We feel that the lawsuit was in reality an attempt to target Stromma’s new competitor Hop On AS, where I started working in 2020. As I see it, Stromma did not win with its demands, says Muzuri. Hop on AS’s bus in Bergen. These buses have some yellow details and blue writing that says Hop on hop off, which distinguishes them from the competitor’s buses. Photo: Cato Heldal Kristensen / news When it comes to the dispute in Bergen, the director of Stromma believes that the company was subjected to discrimination. – We are disappointed that the court did not carry out a proper examination of whether the license exemption was legal, says managing director Ole Asgeir Stromma. Looking ahead So what’s the way forward? Is there room for two providers of red double-decker buses that say “Hop on hop off”? After all the court battles and all the conflict, news asked both parties how they now want to relate to each other in the future. Two of Stromma’s buses parked in Haugesund. Photo: Marthe Synnøve Johannessen / news Can there be a peaceful coexistence for the companies that sell tickets from booths right next to each other at the cruise harbor in Haugesund? – There is obviously a market for our services in a country like Norway. The conflicts that have been with Stromma Norway AS do not affect our focus. That there are some disagreements between companies in an industry exposed to competition is not unusual, and we hope it will be resolved, says HR manager at Hop on AS Vår Na-Ji Grytbakk to news. Stromma’s managing director, Ole Asgeir Madland, is also concerned that, in any case, scenes such as fistfights should not be seen again. – We don’t really have any relationship with this actor, but we still believe that, over time, it is most profitable for us to behave properly and properly and do the best we can to be a positive contributor where we have activity. Published 24/08/2024, at 20.56
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The dispute between Stromma and Hop on AS – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
