Danish shipyards missed navy order

Copenhagen - Several Danish shipyards, including Orskov Yard in Frederikshavn, had bid on the task of repairing and maintaining the frigate Niels Juel. Instead the Danish Defence chose to give the million large order to a shipyard in Tallinn, Estonia “It’s a completely absurd situation, both defense wise and for the Danish maritime industry, that the Danish Defence now puts one of our largest and most advanced warships in the shipyard in Tallinn, just 100 kilometers from Russia’s defense base in Kaliningrad,” says Jenny N. Braat, Director of the Danish Maritime. “It’s a bucket of ice-cold water in the face of the Danish maritime industry, that is not able to bid on other countries’ warships, and where we are the only EU country to practice letting others do just that.

It’s the sad reality of it all,” she adds. “We take a completely misguided and naive duks role in the EU - it even without us needing it, and without others to follow suit. It’s unfair competition for something, and we are the laughing stock of the rest of the European shipbuilding industry, “says Jenny N. Braat. The North Jutland MP Bjarne Laustsen (Social Democrats) does not understand the result of the tender. Back in November, there was general agreement at Christiansborg that for the provision of repairs of the country’s warships could insert clauses and obstructions, which would ensure that the tasks ended up with Danish shipyards. “We had politically agreed to make so-called obstructions, and in my view it would have been very straightforward. Firstly, in the bidding round one of the demands could be that some of the work had to be done on Danish soil. Secondly, that companies wanting to bid had to have a veteran policy and finally as a third requirement, a social clause could have been included, so the company had to be able to present a certain number of apprentices,” says Bjarne Laustsen.

(Source: Danske Maritime / TV2 Nord / Maritime Denmark)