Jørgen is a pioneer in Danish offshore wind

The mood, the optimism and the ideas to want more are fully intact - and you can feel that immediately when Jørgen Holm Christensen picks up the phone. The interview agreement is made in no time.

He is one of Denmark's pioneers in offshore wind, because as a ship rescuer he has been involved in the field from the very beginning. His ships have sailed crew during the construction of the offshore parks Middelgrund, Nysted, Horns Rev 1 and Swedish Bergkvara. But it also turned into assignments with offshore wind farms in the Netherlands and England.

Although the shipping company is gone, today the owner lives almost on the first floor with a view beyond Lillebælt in Strib, but the house that his wife owns has been put up for sale. Jørgen Holm Christensen wants to return to Fredericia, where he still has his daily routine, and his wife runs a hot dog stand. It has been 10 years since the now 70-year-old Jørgen Holm Christensen lost his shipping company Øresund Bådeservice after bankruptcy. It's not something that bothers him - but the process does.

- We had just celebrated our 20th anniversary in 2009, and a year later it was all over, says Jørgen Holm Christensen.

The requirements for the service boats, which today are called Crew Transport Vessels (CTVs), had become higher and higher. It required a very large investment.

- There was a need to have SWATH catamarans built, and this would require an investment of 50 million. DKK. The bank would not be involved in that, he explains.

The so-called Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull, which SWATH catamarans mean, would be able to sail faster back and forth from the wind farms.

Thus, Øresund Bådservice was cut off from the future, which required faster and faster transport to and from the wind farms. Even so, the shipping company had no problem continuing, because Jørgen Holm Christensen had been involved in the large Danish construction projects around the connections across the Great Belt and Øresund. A ten-year contract with the Fehmarn Belt connection was enough to keep the shipping company running smoothly.

- Fehmarn Belt wanted to terminate the contract with us and asked what it would cost. We calculated that it would be 60 million. DKK, which Fehmarn Belt would not pay. Therefore, we entered into an oral agreement about future work instead, but Fehmarn Belt did not honor it, and I went bankrupt, says Jørgen Holm Christensen, who even has recordings of the oral agreement, but it was of no use.

- My small in-house lawyer in Fredericia was completely run over by the chamber lawyer, and I didn't have NOK 200,000 for a bigger lawyer, says Jørgen Holm Christensen, who has been left with a debt of millions, which in the meantime has grown from NOK 15 to barely 70 million DKK.

Therefore, it is only his wife's fault that today he sits with a sea view in the newly built villa in Strib. But the ideas are still bubbling, and there is also time for replacement work as a truck driver. It all began in a completely different place 55 years ago.

At sea as a 15-year-old

The story of the Fredericia boy begins as early as 1967, when he became a sailor at Svitzer as a 15-year-old, where he ended up staying a full 15 years and advanced to mate. It wasn't just at work that Jørgen Holm Christensen liked to sail, because he was also a passionate leisure sailor.

- I have been sailing ever since, and I have sailed around Zealand in a sailboat, where we set a record. Otherwise, I have only been driving a truck for a year and a half, he says.

In September 1989, he took the big leap into independence as a ship owner. The first task for the newly purchased ship "Servus" was to send inspectors out to check the contractors' work during the construction of the Great Belt link. Since then, the combined supply and tugboat "Lillebælt" was built at Rudkøbing Værft. Jørgens Øresund Bådservice grew bigger and bigger over time and later the guard boats "VTS Guard" and "Kattegat" were added. The last two were used to sail patrol with.

The work on the Great Belt link and the Øresund Bridge went well, and it was golden times as a shipowner. And Jørgen Holm Christensen was in Copenhagen so much that he succumbed to the temptation of another industry.

- I bought two restaurants in Copenhagen. At first I frequented the Færgecafeen in Christianshavn, and then I bought it. Later I bought Frikadellen on Langelinje, he tells of a life in the fast lane with enough money.

- It was funny, I could just call the bank and buy the Ferry Cafe for DKK 2 million. DKK and later Frikadellen for one million. DKK, says Jørgen Holm Christensen about something that did not end well.

- I got the ferry cafe sold again, but I lost all the money on the Frikadellen. I thought all the cruise guests would buy meatballs when they disembark in Copenhagen. But cruise guests eat it all on board, because it has already been paid for, laughs Jørgen Holm Christensen.

Jørgen Holm Christensen has never lost his optimistic mind, and spilled milk is not something to cry about.

Offshore wind: The early start

Then came the time when offshore wind started, and it was not like today.

- It was in the year 2000 that I started wind turbine sailing on Middelgrund. I bought three boats that were converted to be able to sail offshore wind. They were the forerunners of the CTVs that sail today, Jørgen Holm Christensen says.

He remembers that time very well.

- There was only me to service the wind turbine transport that time, he says.

At the Swedish offshore wind farm Bergkvara, Øresund Bådservice also tried something new.

- We replaced a nacelle together with a jack up crane. We sailed the defective nacelle into port and sailed a new one out, which was lifted into place from the deck, says Jørgen Holm Christensen.

Femern A/S has been presented with Jørgen Holm Christensen's statements about the broken oral agreement and has had the opportunity to reply. Should Femern A/S respond later, the response will be added here.