The timing could not have been more perfect. In fact, it was masterful – for the chairman of the Folketing and of the Esbjerg Port Board, Søren Gade (V), just managed to avoid being in the room for the song "Når jeg ser et rødt flag smælde". This meant that the liberal politician did not have to sing along to the red battle song, which was the prelude to the panel debate entitled "Kampen om energien" in Kvaglund outside Esbjerg.
The chairman of 3F, Henning Overgaard, and the director of Dansk Fjernvarme, Kim Mortensen, who is a Social Democrat and a former member of parliament for the Social Democrats, had long since arrived and participated in the red communal song.
The host of the Esbjerg Arbejderhistoriefestival 2025 was the Society for Arbejderhistorie, which had moved out to the province with a series of events "west of Valby Bakke", as chairman Mads Bruun Pedersen put it.
Kim Mortensen already mentioned in his opening remarks that the world is in a strange situation with new rules of the game.
- Energy has also become geopolitics, he said, and put it into perspective for the port world:
- Now small ports like Hvide Sande Port and others along the West Coast will be offshore ports, but let's agree that it should be Esbjerg.
Kim Mortensen, who currently lives on Amager, is originally from Esbjerg. Henning Overgaard is also from Esbjerg, from where he lives a commuter life to Copenhagen.
The chairman of the port's board was particularly impressed by the vision and perspective for the Port of Esbjerg.
- When I go out into the world, you look at very large ports like the Port of Mumbai to the Port of Esbjerg, said Søren Gade, who could promise good times ahead for the port:
- The Port of Esbjerg has a great strategic future ahead of it. We have started to buy land for dry docks.
The purchase of land for hinterland area is necessary because there is no more area left by the water.
Big things in store
Søren Gade could also make a prophecy for the near future around the Port of Esbjerg.
- I can tell you that big things are going to happen within the next six months. At the same time, we need more skilled labor, said Søren Gade, thus fueling massive and persistent rumors about a future wind turbine factory on the harbor area.
Henning Overgaard specifically addressed the employee side of the green transition, because it must take place under orderly conditions.
- We must sell know-how and expertise. At the same time, we must ensure that there is ownership among our members for the green transition. We must do this by being a relevant player, so that it is not the employees who will end up paying for all that. This means that there is a safety net, and our members can be retrained, said the 3F chairman.
He also had a reminder that we will all feel the green transition.
- Should we do something about wind turbines? Yes. That's why it's no use saying: But it shouldn't be where we live, said Henning Overgaard, who probably mostly made an allusion to the fact that certain parts of eastern Denmark don't have as much renewable energy as certain places in Jutland.
Wants Aagaard 1.0 back
The director of Danish District Heating wanted to go back to the time when Minister of Climate, Energy and Utilities Lars Aagaard (M) was CEO of the industry organization Dansk Energi.
- We must be good to Aagaard when he is not here. But when he was director of Dansk Energi, he said: “It is more expensive to do nothing than to do something” about the green transition, Kim Mortensen said and made a wish to the minister:
- I wish he would say that today. We cannot afford to do nothing.
It was a statement that he received support for.
- We must keep up the pace with the green transition, concluded Henning Overgaard.
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