Tor Line was founded as a joint venture between the Swedish Trans Oil Shipping and Rex Shipping to operate car-passenger ferries between Sweden, England and the Netherlands. The company name was an abbreviation of the founding companies' names, Trains Oil and Rex Line. Tor Line begun passenger operations in 1966 and freight operations in 1969. In 1980 Tor Line formed a brief joint venture for passenger services, Sessan Tor Line, with Sessan Line. A similar joint venture was formed for freight services with Swedish Lloyd. Both proved short-lived: Stena Line acquired Sessan Line in 1981, and during the same year Tor Line passenger services were sold to DFDS. A year later DFDS also acquired Tor Line's freight services. Initially both divisions were marketed as DFDS Tor Line, but the passenger ferries were later moved under the DFDS brand.