fleet. Næss had very mixed feelings as he had been in shipping for more than 40 years, however, with his experience and background as an economist he anticipated a downturn in the market. He did not have to wait long to see his decision pay off. In July 1973 the deal was closed and Anglo Norness was sold for $208 million. Today it would equal $1.2-1.6 billion. In October the OPEC cartel quadrupled the oil price creating the 1973 oil crisis and the tanker market crashed. Næss was quite self-critical and had lambasted himself after other decisions; however, he had reasons to be proud of the perfect timing of this deal. INTERTANKO and pollution Even though being a staunch defender of personal initiative and unregulated business, Næss supported organisations that could solve problems specific for the business area voluntarily. The reasoning behind INTERTANKO was to organise the independent tanker owners and solve problems particular to the tanker market. In the 1960s it was scrapping old vessels; after the 1973 oil crisis this problem surfaced again. With his large fleet of tankers Næss was a natural participant, and after being a member of the executive committee he was elected chairman in 1976. 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. Of a total tanker tonnage of close to were laid up, while an equal amount sailed with reduced speed. As the INTERTANKO president Næss concentrated on scrapping old tonnage, pollution and utilizing supertankers as floating storage tanks. Scrapping older vessels would reduce the amount of surplus tonnage, and this would then in the long run produce better rates. 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. The spillage from the grounding pushed the major US oil companies to examine the vessels they were chartering closely, thus eliminating a large group of old, badly kept vessels. 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