Anders Helsinghoff Fjord tells PES about the acquisition of the North Sea Ship Agency, the present slowdown in the offshore market and his optimism for 2017.
PES: Welcome to PES Wind magazine. Thanks for talking with us. Would you like to begin by explaining a little about the background of your organization and how you currently serve the wind industry?
Anders Helsinghoff Fjord: North Sea Shipbrokers was started in 2006 and have today acquired the family business North Sea Ship Agency. We can proudly say that we have been in the Maritime business since 1976. Both companies are united under North Sea Shipbrokers and have a track record in the wind industry dating back to 2007. We have sold more than 1000 vessels and we are a solid and an important company serving the wind industry.
PES: North Sea Shipbrokers has a long track record of supplying vessels to the offshore industry. Can you explain a little about how the needs have changed over the years?
AHF: We started serving the offshore wind industry in 2007 when we converted a former fishing vessel for survey work. Since 2007 the requirements and the portfolio of vessels have changed and the wind industry has become very important in the maritime market. Many vessel owners are now looking to work in the wind industry to take advantage of its growth. Norwegian owners have a lot of very high spec vessels but there was no interest for them in the wind industry when the oil & gas market was going well, but as the oil prices dropped the Norwegian owners are now very interested in the wind industry. We have helped a lot of Norwegian owners to join the wind industry because these industries have very different working mentalities. We have secured many high spec vessels and we have a very strong and impressive track record providing specialised vessels as walk to work vessels, SOV and accommodation vessels with capacity for up to 210 technicians.
