The house is located almost on a hilltop in Hanstholm, and here lives one of the most influential transport politicians that Denmark has seen in the last 50 years. The left-winger Svend Heiselberg is 87 years old and has long since left the Folketing, but his analytical skills are undiminished. In addition to having left his clear mark on Danish traffic planning and the expansion of the Danish motorway network, he is part of the history of Hanstholm Port, which he joined in 1968. It is the same house as back then, where his wife Betty now opens the door.
Inside the fireplace room, it exudes coziness and the rustle of history – and something is mandatory in this house after dark on a late January afternoon.
- Do you want coffee, or do you want coffee, asks Betty Heiselberg, who has charisma and enthusiasm on a par with her husband.
A few minutes later, the coffee table is set, and the homemade nut cake is ready.
Svend Heiselberg has been a member of the municipal council in Hanstholm and chairman of the Hanstholm Port Fishing Association for 12 years. Since then, he has also been chairman of the port's landowners' association and was honored by the port's board a few years ago with the naming of Svend Heiselberg Plads at the port. He has also been chairman of the Westlink collaboration, which was to restructure and develop fishing-dependent areas.
From 1 January 2023, the Port of Hanstholm will no longer be a self-governing port. The debt of 630 million DKK and an operating deficit in 2021 of 17 million DKK were now so large that the municipality had to repay the overdraft of 63 million DKK and make the port municipal.
Svend Heiselberg follows the port's development closely. When you ask him where things have gone wrong along the way, he starts with an example from his time as a landowner at the port.
- I had a plan to create a small exclusive fish restaurant or small fish shop in the building that I owned at the port. So I asked the then port director and was told that there was no problem. I asked for it in writing, and I got it, he says.
But when the building was to be converted into a restaurant, something happened.
- I hired craftsmen to install new doors and windows for 100,000 kroner. But then I suddenly got a letter from the municipality asking me to stop the renovation immediately, so I did. It was the local plan that put an end to it, explains Svend Heiselberg.
In the meantime, the plan for an exclusive fish restaurant has been dropped, and the building has been sold. The former politician has no doubt that the process is symptomatic of the lack of development of Hanstholm Port.
- It is the way things are put an end to things. I know the new port law very well, because I helped draft it in the Danish parliament, he says.
The many directors
On a larger scale, Svend Heiselberg also sees a number of things that are open to criticism.
- I had a good working relationship with the port directors Nils Skeby and Niels Clemensen. Both have explained to me that they had difficulty getting their proposals through with the municipality, he says and adds:
- You can do a lot, but if you don't have the municipality involved, it's no use.
He also views the large change of directors, with seven of them within the last ten years, critically.
- There must be something wrong. Here I think the board has been too bad, says Heiselberg.
The big plans for an energy cluster at the port, which former port director Nils Skeby was responsible for, have not been realized.
- There were no limits to what could happen. We were all open-minded about it, but for now the area is still empty, says Svend Heiselberg.
After Hanstholm Port became a municipality, there is no board in the port anymore. The responsibility now lies with Thisted's municipal council.
The recently departing chairman of the Hanstholm Port board, Michael Svane, knows Svend Heiselberg from his work in the Danish Parliament on the new port act. At that time, Svane was the industry director of DI Transport. Today, he is a seasoned full-time board member, who also sits on the board of the successful Rønne Port. Svend Heiselberg and Michael Svane have a personal friendship, but apart from Svane, the former politician is not satisfied with the choice of board members in the past.
- The smart thing would have been to find some influential people. They have all been unknown people. You should have looked outside the country's borders. Imagine if you had found a Norwegian with good contacts in the business community in Norway, says Svend Heisel.
The responsibility
When it comes to the overall responsibility of how the port could end up with a debt for the expansion of 630 million kroner in a port whose earnings primarily consist of a struggling fishery. Then he has no doubts at all.
- The local politicians have not been adults in their task. They have not seen any other options than fisheries. There is only the possibility of a little cargo, but something else is needed too. It can hardly get any worse, and I am very concerned about that, Svend Heiselberg points out.
One of the municipal politicians who was elected to the municipal council in Thisted until the last municipal election in 2021 is Søren Zohnesen (V). Zohnesen has been employed at the port for eight years and was first promoted to deputy director and operations manager from a position as port assistant in December 2020. He was then appointed acting port director when Nils Skeby was fired in the spring of 2022. From 1 January 2023, he was appointed the new port manager.
- I can't say anything bad about Søren Zohnesen, who is also a Liberal. But the question is whether he is the right person for the task, says Svend Heiselberg.
The potential
Although the former politician is "concerned about" the current situation around the port, he is very optimistic about the possibilities for increased earnings.
- It's a shame that nothing has happened, because there are opportunities here. If an offshore wind farm were to be built at Vigsø, it would provide employment and income for the port, says Svend Heiselberg about the possibility of becoming a service port for a wind farm or even more in the future.
However, there is also another obvious option that is within reach.
- We should try to use the proximity to Norway to a much greater extent and expand cooperation through lobbying, it is said.
The new form of government
The fact that the port has now ended up fully in municipal hands is not something that bothers Svend Heiselberg. The large debt and an overdraft of 63 million DKK, which the municipality has now paid off, contain dangers for the future.
- The worst thing is if the municipality ends up with a large deficit every year. Municipal tasks have already been postponed. It is doubtful about a municipally managed port, and there will be demands for greater investments, he says.
Despite his misgivings about several things about the port, there is a feeling that remains.
- Above all, it is a shame that we have now got such a large, beautiful port. I have hope that it will go well. But money needs to be made, concludes Svend Heiselberg, who has spoken so passionately about his darling Hanstholm Port that he has only managed to take a few bites of his wife's nut cake.
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