THISTED: On January 1st this year, Hanstholm Port went from being a self-governing port to becoming a municipal port due to a debt of around 630 million DKK. At that time, the port had an overdraft of 63 million DKK.
The debt stemmed from a port expansion to 650 million DKK. However, the expansion did not lead to a significant increase in revenue for the port. The turnover of 30-33 million DKK was not enough to generate a profit to pay off a loan of over half a billion DKK.
When the port's path into municipal governance was decided in November last year, the mayor of Thisted, Niels Jørgen Pedersen (V), said the following:
- We in the municipal council have a strong focus on having stronger governance of Hanstholm Port. This also means that we are investigating whether there are circumstances in the financial management of the port that can form the basis for claiming liability, said Niels Jørgen Pedersen.
In addition, Thisted Municipality stated in a news release on its website in connection with the decision to take back the port that:
"In addition, circumstances have been identified that may give rise to liability."
Since then, there has been silence about the matter.
The owner was informed
However, DOI.dk has now learned from several sources that alarm bells were already ringing back in June 2019, in a risk assessment from a leading expert in the port area in the banking world, Danske Bank managing director Morten Søegård. It is an assessment that both the port's board and Thisted Municipality were informed about.
In the risk assessment, of which DOI.dk knows key parts, Danske Bank calls the expansion of Hanstholm Port a "high-risk project". Later in the email sent to then port director Niels Clemensen, it is stated that the port expansion could be "a threat to the municipality's economy".
Port director Niels Clemensen then replies to Morten Søegård, as can be seen from the access to documents obtained by DOI.dk:
"I have noted Danske Bank's position and attitude in relation to our project and a future commitment from Danske Bank in a collaboration on this, which I will bring to the attention of my board of directors and the owner."
At the end of June 2019, the port director wrote to Danske Bank's Morten Søegård, after consulting the owner Thisted Municipality about guarantees, asking whether this would change the bank's position.
Access to documents in the bank assessment
DOI.dk has requested access to documents from Thisted Municipality to see the full risk assessment. However, the response to the request for access to documents did not come from the municipality, but from Hanstholm Port's port manager Søren Zohnesen. The risk assessment was returned in an almost complete blackout.
The justification from the port manager for the blacked-out access to documents reads:
"We have excluded information from the email of June 4, 2019 between the port and the bank, with reference to Section 30 of the Freedom of Information Act, as there is information that could harm the port's future ability to do business."
In 2019, the same Søren Zohnesen sat as one of the responsible city council politicians for the Liberal Party, while now as port manager in the same port he refuses access to documents in the risk assessment, which now has consequences for the municipality's finances.
The consequences
It has had an impact on the finances of Thisted Municipality that the warning from the bank was not heard back in 2019. Savings on, among other things, The children's and youth area are just some of the consequences after the port became municipal.
The then mayor and vice-chairman of the port's board, Ulla Vestergaard (S), still sits on the municipality's city council after she lost her mayoralty at the last municipal election. She does not remember the risk assessment.
- It's not because I don't want to speak out, but I can't remember it at all. But now we have taken over the port in the municipality. A budget has been set, and it is a port that has had a down period. I am sure it will be a growth engine for the entire municipality, says Ulla Vestergaard.
Mayor Niels Jørgen Pedersen (V), who in 2019 sat as deputy mayor of the finance committee and must have been aware of the risk assessment. DOI.dk has tried in vain to get a comment on whether the mayor remembers the risk assessment and whether it has anything to do with the conditions that may lead to liability.
DOI.dk has also tried in vain to get a comment from former port director Niels Clemensen.
The risk assessment from Danske Bank, which DOI.dk has been given access to, is almost completely obscured. DOI.dk has obscured the email and telephone number of Danske Bank's Morten Søegård.
Updated version 13.04.23 at 00:20.
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