FREDERIKSHAVN: What should happen to the debt-ridden Frederikshavn Port? That was one of the big questions at the city council meeting on Wednesday evening – and the short answer is that nothing new should be done.
The port currently has an annual liquidity deficit of 62 million DKK. In addition, interest amounts to 38 million DKK annually, debt repayments cost the municipal treasury 79 million DKK per year and operating and construction expenses are 45 million DKK. Overall, it is a bad business when the port's annual income is approximately 100 million DKK.
Due to the debt in the port, Frederikshavn is high on the list of municipalities with the most long-term debt per citizen. In 2024, the debt was 37,868 DKK per citizen, while in 2023 it was 13,221 kr.
A reduction in the debt will mean a release of funds for operations and thus for citizen-oriented welfare.
That is precisely why the Liberal Party had presented a proposal with four points, so that the port can eventually become independent. But there was no majority for that in the city council.
- We would have preferred to have started the work of making the port independent now, and try to get it out of the municipal coffers. It is the citizens' tax money, says city council member Jens Borup (V) to DK Nyt.
The Liberal Party's four points
1. That from 1 January 2026, separate accounting will be established for the port's operations and investments.
2. That a municipally owned port company will be established for tasks that fall outside the scope of the Port Act.
3. That a §17, subsection 4 committee will be established, reporting to the City Council, consisting of a city council member from the Economic Committee and external professionals with relevant port and business expertise, to assist the municipal director in developing the port's business potential.
4. That the administration prepares a proposal for full corporate transformation.
Source: Frederikshavn City Council.
Not ready for transformation
Jens Borup has been fighting for the past two years for the port to be turned into a limited company rather than being a municipal port.
- Then we can get in people who know how to run a port instead of us sitting here as politicians trying to make ourselves smart about running a port, he says and adds:
- But you're talking to deaf ears when it's the Social Democrats you're talking to. They have an idea that as long as we own it together, everything is fine.
According to a note from the accounting firm BDO, transforming the port into a wholly or partly municipally owned limited liability company port will require a financial injection of 500 million. DKK. BDO therefore points out that a transformation will be associated with significant challenges in terms of financing.
"The debt immediately exceeds the value of the fixed assets, and the Port of Frederikshavn must not currently appear attractive as a financial investment," writes BDO.
The audit firm also assesses that it will hardly be possible at this time to issue a necessary declaration of "going concern", which means that the port can be considered a company that has the finances to maintain operations.
At the city council meeting on Wednesday, it was therefore also the Social Democrats' proposal on just two points that was voted through:
"1. The current work with the Port of Frederikshavn will be continued, including the establishment of a going concern for the port, 2. no new initiatives will be launched at this time," the agenda reads.
The Social Democrats and the SF voted in favor with 16 votes each and four seats out of the 29 seats in the city council. The Liberal Party, the Moderates and the Danish Democrats voted against, while the Conservatives and the Danish People's Party abstained.
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