founder of what was, in its time, the largest shipping group in Sweden. Brostrom is regarded as the father of the modern Swedish mercantile marine.

As a young man Brostrom joined a shipping company and later became an owner-captain in the lake shipping trade. In 1870 he converted a sailing ship, Activ, into a steamship, which proved so successful that he acquired other steamships. Brostrom founded the Ferm steamship company and built vessels for transporting iron ore, the predecessors of the special ore carriers that later went into worldwide service.