J.A.Rederiet was founded in 1986 by Jens Alfastsen as a coastal salvage and diving company. Initially, the work was carried out from smaller work boats and in1989 the first ship was acquired to support diving tasks and salvage. In 1993,the first tugboat of >20 GT was added to the fleet, which was the start of a number of years of purchasing more tugboats and carrying out more and more tugboat tasks. As a natural extension of these tasks, the first floating crane was purchased in 2007, for use in salvage and lifting tasks.

With the desire to strengthen the company's profile as a salvage and diving company, 2older car ferries were purchased and specially converted, most recently in to multi purpose DP1/DP2 offshore vessels. The two new ships meant that they could now increasingly take on special tasks and in a significantly larger geographical area, as the ships were more seaworthy than the previous workboats.

As part of a natural change of generations, Kim Alfastsen joined in 2009 as owner of J.A. Rederiet.Jens Alfastsen continued as day-to-day manager of the office, while Kim, assalvage master and captain, was responsible for project management at sea, inconnection with salvage and diving tasks.

At the end of 2021, Kim Alfastsen took over the overall management of the shipping company.

Since 2009, the fleet has been upgraded and expanded several times with, among other things, two flat top barges, a 700tonne lifting catamaran and a 50 tonne excavator to support the shipping company's tasks