There is no doubt when you ask CEO Niels Olaf Vinther Jensen of maritime service company Kynde & Toft how Thyborøn ended up becoming the installation port for 41 monopiles and TPs for the wind farm Vesterhav Nord and Syd, respectively.
- We created the North Sea Offshore Service Group, where I sit on the board. We have worked for many, many years to make it a success, says Niels Olav Vinther Jensen, who clearly remembers the work that has gone before:
- We have been to Aberdeen, among other places, to see how they do offshore wind over there.
Kynde & Toft is involved in servicing maritime shipping, from some of Denmark's largest shipping companies to other vessels, and this is actually almost on a global basis.
- We are an ABC engine dealer, and this means that we send people out to work in both Greenland and Northern Norway. Here we are about to extend a fishing trawler by six meters now. And we have also just delivered a hydraulic system to Taiwan. There are nine other fishing boats in Taiwan that are on their way to getting a Thyborøn package, which includes everything from hydraulic winches, drums and winches. The fishermen in Taiwan are actually amazed at how much more they can catch with it, explains the director about what his company does most.
Although offshore wind is not the main focus for Kynde & Toft, Niels Olaf Vinther Jensen's company has already gotten a taste of the work that is in store with offshore wind in connection with the Vesterhav Syd and Nord wind farm.
- We need people to go out and ballast the barge where the monopiles and TPs are on before they are lifted onto the installation ship. Of course, nothing can go wrong, says the business owner, who had mostly expected unforeseen work, such as making a fitting or other sudden work in the forging area.
And Thyborøn has what it takes to be able to take its share of the cake in offshore wind.
- The port has the right harbor depth and the right facilities for offshore wind, although of course it is Esbjerg, Esbjerg and Esbjerg again very often, says Niels Olav Vinther Jensen with a warm smile.
Recruitment and high quality for shipping
However, the recruitment situation in Thyborøn is such that it can be difficult to attract new employees.
- We are located on a spit here, and that means that we have a smaller area to recruit from. But we have no problem getting apprentices, and we have 13 of them right now. Otherwise, we have six very skilled shipwrights from Poland, says Niels Olav Vinther Jensen.
He himself bought his first share in Kynde & Toft in 1991, in 2018 he bought out three colleagues to become sole owner.
- That is the maritime that we will focus on as the conversion that will come in next week. It is a 70-meter Norwegian tanker that will be converted to be able to transport biofuel from the fishing industry, he says.
However, Kynde & Toft has also developed a product that is convincingly better than other similar ones.
- We have developed a bulkhead penetration that was first used by a German environmental survey ship in the Baltic Sea. If a fire were to break out, our HYROB bulkhead-permeable can withstand a heat of 1000 degrees for 45 minutes. That's far beyond what others can do. It is of course more expensive than others – but it is a completely different quality, says Niels Olav Vinther Jensen, about some of the things that Kynde & Toft will focus on.
Extending a fishing boat by a full six meters is just some of the maritime blacksmithing that Kynde & Toft is involved in.
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