Shipowner was cheated and forgotten by Femern A/S and he has the proof

In fact, he is upset, and over the past week, shipowner Jørgen Holm Christensen has once again contacted Deputy Technical Director Kim Smedegaard at Femern Bælt A/S. The inquiry was about whether there should still be work for the shipowner's ship "Don Holm", but he has not received an answer.

The silence from Femern Bælt A/S frustrates the shipowner. In 2012, he was promised work in a verbal agreement when work on the Fehmarn Link was supposed to begin. It is an agreement that Femern Bælt A/S has not kept, which DOI.dk has already written about.

The agreement was made at a meeting in Rødbyhavn. Present were shipowner Jørgen Holm Christensen, his employee first mate Claus Sjømann and the shipowner's auditor Herluf Kielsgaard-Spicker. While Femern Bælt A/S was represented by CFO Allan H. Kristensen, financial manager Gregers Jensen and director of marine works Claus Iversen.

Both the auditor and the former employee confirmed to DOI.dk the oral agreement made about the promised work. In the auditor's words, Femern Bælt A/S's justification for not putting the agreement in writing was:

"For political reasons, it could not be put in writing."

DOI.dk tried in vain to get in touch with Allan H. Kristensen and Gregers Jensen. Claus Iversen remembered the case, which he had no comments on. Deputy Technical Director Kim Smedegaard was not aware of the case, although he is on the Femern Bælt A/S' board of directors. But he could tell about a long and good collaboration with the shipowner during the work on the Great Belt connection.

Femern A/S has since given a written response to Femernnews writes Søfart. Here it says, among other things:

"Femern A/S is not aware that a binding oral agreement has been entered into for additional tasks, or that the company is entitled to additional compensation."

Presenting audio file

It is not financial compensation that Jørgen Holm Christensen is after. What he most wanted was a solution where he got the agreed-upon sailing work rather than money. That is why he has repeatedly tried to reach out to Femern Bælt A/S. He has an audio file, which he has now given to DOI.dk, which confirms that one of the parties who represented Femern A/S at the meeting in 2012 remembers the verbal agreement.

However, the shipowner is sorry to have to present the telephone conversation with Claus Iversen after many years of otherwise excellent cooperation between the two. According to Jørgen Holm Christensen, the telephone conversation was recorded in 2021.

- I just don't understand why they don't say: Come over and have a cup of coffee, and we'll figure it out. That's why I'm now presenting the conversation I had with Claus Iversen back in 2021, says the shipowner.

In the conversation, he asks Claus Iversen:

"Did you talk to any of the others, about compensation or about being allowed to come over and sail, or what?"

Claus Iversen replies:

"Yes, yes - I have, but what is it called, Gregers (Gregers Jensen ed.) he was very direct, that as a public company we cannot enter into that kind of agreement with anyone at all: He was very clear in his words"

Later, Claus Iversen says:

"The two of us have been around for a long time, but the world has changed dramatically since those days - you are legally tied hand and foot. And it's no less so here in the company."

When the shipbuilder expresses his disappointment, Claus Iversen admits:

"It should have been handled completely differently then, if it was to have any value. On paper, and unfortunately we don't have that."

To that, Jørgen Holm Christensen replies:

"A verbal agreement is just as good as a written one"

To that, Claus Iversen replies:

"The problem is, you can almost hear it. There's just no one who can remember a verbal agreement and now say it that way."

And Claus Iversen continues:

"That's what I've been told to tell you, and it may change in the process. I don't know - that is. I really do what I can, but - you get it raw and unsweetened as usual."

That there was an agreement from 2012, Claus Iversen does not hide either:

"The world has changed, people are so afraid of contact, or whatever you want to call it, to keep that kind of thing. We don't do that anymore either. I don't do that anymore with any of ours - some of your competitors, to put it that way. In quotation marks, for example, Damen and the like that come along. - Jørgen, it has become a minefield: That's why this is also affected by a form of fear of contact in quotation marks"

And Claus Iversen does not completely extinguish the hope that Jørgen Holm Christensen will get work:

"Let's try now, and I know that you can't use that for anything. My gut feeling says, let's get closer to the tunnels on the track, then a situation could quickly arise where they shout and scream for a fleet.”

Furthermore it reads:

“Then we have to find other ways to invite you. I promise you, I will keep an eye on our contractor when he is ready. - That is all I can do right now.

But Jørgen Holm Christensen is still waiting for the work, which was agreed upon at the meeting with Femern Bælt A/S in 2012. Although he still remembers the good relationship, even friendship, that he and Claus Iversen have built up through many years of cooperation, he has no doubt at all about what he thinks of Femern Bælt A/S.

- There is a verbal agreement, and Claus Iversen also confirms this on the recording. It is cheeky of Femern Bælt to say that there is no agreement. And a verbal agreement is of course binding, concludes Jørgen Holm Christensen.

But despite that, the shipowner wants just say that the company is keeping the agreement on work that was made back in 2012.

DOI.dk spoke with Claus Iversen, who has no comment on the audio file. The same applies to Femern Bælt A/S' CEO Henrik Vincentsen, who also has no comment on the matter.

Telephone conversation between shipowner Jørgen Holm Christensen and former director of marine work at Femern Bælt A/S Claus Iversen: