JD-Contractor A/S moves to
the Port of Thyboron and wins initiative award
JD-Contractor A/S has chosen the Port of Thyboron as its operating base for underwater remotely operated vessels (ROVs),
The shipping company JD-Contractor’s wide range of offshore supply vessels stand out prominently at this commercial port on the North Sea coast with its protected location inside the Liim Fiord. In particular, the distinctive vessel Assister is often seen in the harbour due to the short sailing distances to and from the North Sea and the countries around it.
JD-Contractor A/S has now chosen the Port of Thyboron as its operating base for underwater remotely operated vessels (ROVs), and in 2023 the company established 1,800 square metres of quayside storage facilities at the port, from where the company will mobilise and service a wide range of underwater robots in future. Its cable and deck equipment department will remain in Kalundborg on Zealand. In choosing the Port of Thyboron as its home port, JD-Contractor A/S now has two home ports, one in the east and one in the west of Denmark. Having vessels based at locations that are ideally situated to meet the needs of the company’s customers ensures quick response times and reduces sailing distances. JD-Contractor A/S mainly operates in Denmark, Norway, the UK and Scotland, and thus expects to derive significant customer advantages from the geographical location of its new home port and from having two strategic home ports in Denmark.
Rasmus Normann Andersen, CEO of JD-Contractor A/S, says: “We’re heavily involved in projects in the North Sea, Norway, the UK and Scotland. A base on the North Sea offers clear advantages for us in terms of the cost reductions and reduced carbon footprint that result from reduced sailing distances. In addition, the short distances ensure fast and optimum response times.”
With regard to JD-Contractor A/S’s choice of the Port of Thyboron as a base for its large fleet of offshore and construction vessels and the establishment of its own storage facilities at the port, the Port of Thyboron’s CEO, Jesper Holt Jensen, says: “At the Port of Thyboron, we’re delighted and proud that we can offer just the right facilities and services for JD-Contractor A/S to want to choose us as their home port for their large vessels while at the same time establishing a base here. And we’re equally proud that the marine service industry at the port can provide fast, efficient and expert services to offshore shipping companies.”
Competent marine service meets the needs of offshore shipping companies
In addition to the port’s facilities, JD-Contractor A/S benefits greatly from all the high standards of marine services available at the Port of Thyboron. The shipyard Kynde & Toft A/S is currently converting the large former Norwegian-owned offshore supply vessel Viking Vanquish into a Danish offshore supply vessel which has been taken over by JD Contractor A/S under the new name C-Installer.” Moreover, a former Maersk vessel, now red and sailing under the name Assister, is also being converted at the moment in Thyboron.
About the shipyards in Thyboron, JD-Contractor’s CEO Rasmus Normann Andersen says: “In Thyboron, the shipyards are incredibly service-minded, and they know that ships are meant to sail, not wait around in harbours. The quality of the work they do is extremely high, and everything is possible. This is why we bring our ships to Thyboron for both maintenance and construction work. The fact that qualified marine services are available clearly has a bearing on our choice of home port.”
About JD-Contractor A/S
The choice of the Port of Thyboron as a home port draws historical threads back to the early days of JD-Contractor A/S, as the company was established in 1972 with the acquisition of the pilot boat Lodsen from Thyboron. The vessel, with its lovely sounding old two-stroke Hundested Motorfabrik engine, served JD-Contractor A/S for 40 years, and has now been passed on to Nordvestjysk Fjordkultur as a museum vessel.
Today, the company’s fleet consists of 14 large vessels with permanent crews and several smaller vessels. JD-Contractor A/S has a wide range of different tools at its disposal for underwater work, and performs all kinds of underwater construction, maintenance and survey tasks. The company specialises in jobs which have proved too much for others, and positions itself as a specialist operator with a particular skills set and extensive problem-solving expertise. It possesses unique competencies and has a strong team of highly qualified employees.
New employees receive thorough on-the-job training with a wide range of smaller vessels which are not permanently crewed, including small barges for subsea cable-laying, on which the new employees can gain valuable maritime experience until they have acquired the necessary practical skills to work with larger ships and more wide-ranging tasks.
The vessels Sima, Assister, Vina og Marcos are examples of vessels from JD-Contractor´s fleet, working from the Port of Thyboron.
Shipyard in Thyboron is currently converting Viking Vanguish to C-Installer for JD-Contractor A/S.
World-class historical attractions
Great enterprise runs in the Norman Andersen family. The company JD-Contractor A/S is testament to that. JD-Contractor A/S’s founder, Gert Normann Andersen, is one of Denmark’s biggest underwater history enthusiasts. Today, he has retired from the company, but has dedicated himself to telling people about naval history in order to avoid history repeating itself. “It takes place on a large scale at special museums in Thyboron.
The Memorial Park for the Battle of Jutland commemorates the biggest naval battle in living memory, and one considerably larger than the famous attack on Pearl Habour in the USA. The Battle of Jutland took place during World War I, when Germany and the UK clashed brutally and 8,645 young sailors perished on 240 warships. Twenty-six of the ships sank off Thyboron. The memorial park illustrates in scaled-down format the actual locations of shipwrecks at the bottom of the North Sea. The small sculptures beside each ship indicate the number of fatalities per ship. The memorial park is located in the dunes overlooking the North Sea, and is the perfect place to go for a walk whatever the time of year.
Sea War Museum Jutland drives home the dramatic consequences of war, especially for its victims. The museum was established in honour of the families and their war dead, and out of a burning desire to prevent further wars.
Both attractions have drawn large numbers of both Danes and foreigners since they opened – the Sea War Museum in 2015 and the Memorial Park for the Battle of Jutland in 2016, exactly 100 years after the naval battle. They attract history buffs from near and far, and convey history in a particularly moving way.
The JD-Contractor A/S family receiving Thyboron Port´s initiative award 2023.
New museums opening in Thyboron in 2024
Enthusiasts do not stop once their initial dreams have been realised. Many other dreams and new projects are waiting to be pursued. This is also the case for Gert Normann Andersen and his son Rasmus Normann Andersen, who have launched ambitious plans to convert the former Kystcenter in Thyboron into a new and unique museum. A large shipwreck museum, that will tell the stories of shipwrecks such as RMS Titanic, the MS Estonia, Viking ships and many more. Also, the story of munitions such as grenades and sea mines from 1700 until the present day, together with torpedoes and cluster bombs, will be told while providing an overview of mine victims per mine to put everything into perspective. Committed efforts are being made to show the role of military material in history and to talk about the victims of war. In general, the narrative that all war is cruel and should be avoided at all costs rings very true with the Normann Andersen family.
And there is no shortage of ideas. Gert Normann Andersen also has plans for exhibitions on whaling with harpoon cannon as well as a dedicated diving museum on the upper floor of the new museum together with a cafeteria, lecture hall, a large conference hall, a shiping library for tomorrow’s seafaring students – and which will all be ready for summer 2024.
In addition, a stage two is already on the drawing board. A large tower overlooking the Port of Thyboron, the surrounding area of Thy and the Vesterhav offshore wind farm is currently being designed. There are even ideas for third stage – a virtual museum with shipwrecks projected onto the walls and an overall theme of rescue at sea. The exhibition will cover everything from life-rafts to helicopters.
Jesper Holt Jensen says: “The imagination and enterprise shown by the Normann Andersen in Thyboron is quite unique. The family’s historical museums very much reflect their desire to make a difference for the future. This is entrepreneurship at its best, and we are delighted that this is also being recognised with this year’s initiative award at the Port of Thyboron.”
“Many congratulations on the initiative award to JD-Contractor A/S, Rasmus Normann Andersen, Gert Normann Andersen and Bente Dejligbjerg. It is wonderful to be able to pay tribute to all your unique initiatives!” Jesper Holt Jensen, CEO, Port of Thyboron.
Published Friday, January 26, 2024