Posts Tagged ‘Denmark’
A return to arms Danske Bank resumes defence investments
Asset managers with Danske Bank, Denmark’s largest financial institution, may now place investors’ money in nearly all European firms working in the defence industry, after it removed 30 firms from its blacklist earlier this month, leaving only producers of the most controversial weapons out of bounds.
The decision comes amidst growing European concerns about whether it can protect itself from a Russian attack, should America not live up to its commitment as a member of Nato. It also comes as European countries, looking to build up their defences after years of neglect, are now making it easy for their militaries to spend—and giving them plenty of money to do so. Denmark, for example, is expected to increase its defence spending from the current 2% of GDP to perhaps 5% in the coming years. Meanwhile the European Commission in March said it was making €800 billion available for defence spending.
For investors, such measures provide moral backing to the interest they had already begun showing the defence industry. After years of favouring funds that made a virtue of shunning arms, investors, according to Danske Bank, have more than doubled the amount of money going into defence-related firms over the past two years.
Despite its about face, Danske Bank is keeping its restrictions on controversial weapons banned by international conventions, including cluster bombs, anti-personnel mines and biological and chemical weapons. Similarly, it says it will continue to offer investment options for those who prefer their capitalism with a streak of pacifism. All’s fair in investment and in war.
Read MoreThe first Ship-to-Shore (STS) crane has arrived in Copenhagen
Copenhagen Malmö Port (CMP) has received its first STS crane, which will be installed at the new container terminal in Ydre Nordhavn, Copenhagen, from Konecranes in Finland.
The voyage took four days, and it is a significant milestone that the crane has now safely reached its final destination. The arrival of the crane marks an important step for CMP. This advanced STS crane symbolises CMP’s ambitions, together with By & Havn, the developer of the new container terminal, to create one of the most efficient and modern container terminals in Northern Europe.
Read full announcement (external link)
Originally published on 7 Apr
Read MoreCome back and stand by Bornholm’s home guard wants former members to rejoin
The home guard on Bornholm this week sent out letters to 250 of its former members, asking them to consider rejoining the volunteer force, which currently numbers 300. It is a mission that will not be hard to complete: concerns about Moscow’s next move after Ukraine has led to a surge in the number of home-guard members nationwide. Last year, the number of new volunteers increased 35% from the previous year, the most in over four decades.
More military spending will also help. Copenhagen has vastly increased its defence budget in recent years. Only a fraction of this will go to the home guard, but the money will be used directly on the types of things that matter most to soldiers: guns, body armour and sleeping bags.
For islanders, the big motivator is geography. Being far removed from Denmark proper and having been left to fend for itself in the past has left its mark on islanders, and their home guard unit can operate with a greater degree of autonomy than units elsewhere in Denmark. Some residents and military experts want the military to take it a step further and reactivate Bornholms Værn, a volunteer militia that had existed for 400 years until it was disbanded in 2000.
Prior to Russian invasion of Ukraine, the home guard was mostly tasked with helping civil authorities and the police. Today, support for the regular army is increasingly being added to those duties, and the local commander expects more missions of that sort in the years to come. To keep up, he must keep the home guard returning.
Read MoreNo time at the present Bornholm’s green industry estate on stand-by
Bornholm should table its proposed industry estate until Copenhagen decides whether it will go ahead with its plans to build the converter station for two off-shore wind farms that would power the facility, an island council committee says.
A vote will be put before the full council later this month, but Jacob Trøst, the mayor, believes the national government’s decision in January to wait until after the German federal election to make its final decision makes proceeding impractical.
It is hoped that Germany will purchase the majority of the 3 megawatts of electricity the wind farms would produce. The rest is expected to be sent to eastern Denmark, but Bornholm would like some of it to be used to power an industry estate that would act as a crucible for energy start-ups.
Island businesses want work on the industry estate to continue. Questions like where it would be placed and when it would come on-line may be unanswerable at the moment, but, argues Michael Almeborg, the chair of the local chapter of DI, that should not stop the council from lining up the firms who will want to hear the answers when the council finally has them.
Read MoreNIB, Luminor and NORD/LB to co-finance a 148 MWp solar farm in Latvia
NIB, Luminor Bank and NORD/LB have agreed to co-finance a 148 MWp solar farm in the Ventspils municipality. The project is developed by Stelo Orienta SIA, a subsidiary of European Energy, a Danish renewable energy company.
The overall financing amounts to EUR 68 million. NIB’s EUR 28 million loan is supported by the European Union under NIB’s InvestEU Framework Operation on Clean Energy Transition. This is NIB’s first InvestEU loan in Latvia.
Read full announcement (external link)
Originally published on 6 Mar
Read MoreDanish retailer Salling overtakes Baltic chain
Denmark’s largest retailer will purchase Rimi, a Baltic retail chain, Salling Group and ICA Gruppen, the chain’s current owner, announced today. The deal makes Salling one of the largest supermarket operators in the Baltic region.
According to ICA Gruppen, the value of Rimi’s retail business in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia is around €1.3 billion.
Salling will take over €500 million of Rimi Baltic’s debt, which is mainly made up of lease liabilities. The transaction will increase the company’s capital by €630 million and generate cash inflows of €810 million.
Salling said the acquisition of Rimi is the largest transaction its history. It will now own 2,100 supermarkets in the Baltic states, Denmark, Germany and Poland.
Read MoreFinland, Denmark move closer on defence, hybrid-threat response
Helsinki and Copenhagen are prepared to pool more of their resources in response to an increasingly tense situation in the Baltic Sea region, members of the cabinet from the two countries said today.
Already allied militarily through Nato and Nordefco, a Nordic defence alliance, the two countries’ defence ministers called for a deeper partnership in the Baltic and Nordic regions to deter Russian agression. Both countries make use of the F-35 fighter jet, and one proposal put forth was the Danish purchase of a refuelling plane that could service all of the Nordic countries.
Shared concern about hybrid attacks, including against computer systems in the two countries and undersea infrastructure in the Baltic, also requires authorities in both countries to be in lock step, according to a statement issued by the Finnish interior ministry and the Danish civil-defence ministry.
Today’s announcement comes as the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, is preparing to publish its own union-wide strategies for civil defence, internal security and defence. All three issues were added to Brussels’ remit earlier this year.
Read MoreSwedes preparing to receive Bornholm refugees
Amid Swedish fears of Russian expansionism in the Baltic, local authorities in Ystad say they are preparing for a situation in which they receive refugees from Bornholm.
Ystad is a Swedish council, but it is the mainland port for the primary ferry serving the Danish island.
The Swedish military considers Bornholm, along with other Baltic islands, as targets of potential Russian attacks, and that has led Ystad council to include refugees from the island in its civil-defence planning.
Police on Bornholm are responsible for co-ordinating civil defence. In the event of an attack, they say their directions would come from Copenhagen, but Ystad officials have called for co-ordination at the council level with Bornholm.
Source: Ystad Allehanda / TV2/Bornholm
Read MoreDenmark not ready for long-term defence buildup, business lobby warns
Danish manufacturers are at the ready to facilitate the rapid military buildup to the tune of 50bn kroner (€6.7bn) over the next two years announced by the prime minister on Wednesday. But they warn that any return to a military-industrial complex needed to sustain the military for the long-term will require more than just money.
“We should use this an opportunity to think strategically and truly modernise our society,” Lars Sandahl Sørensen, the managing director of DI, a business lobby, said. “Lawmakers won’t be able to avoid making considerable reforms, improving efficiency and investing in new technology and competitiveness.”
The additional funding comes on top of a 10-year, 190bn kroner plan to revamp the military, bringing it in line with Washington’s increasing demands that Nato members spend more on defence.
Denmark currently spends 2.4% percent of its gross domestic product on defence. That places it above the Nato target of 2%, but in January, Mette Frederiksen, the PM, told Danes to be prepared for cuts to some services, as her government looked towards spending 5% of GDP on defence in the coming years
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The additional funding comes after years of cuts have hollowed out the military’s capabilities. And with Washington’s willingness to come to Europe’s aide in the event of a Russian attack now in doubt, Ms Frederiksen said the military would be allowed to fast-track purchases until it was rearmed, by-passing a lengthy and scandal-ridden tendering process.
Correction: We originally stated that the Nato spending target was 3%. Sorry.
British captain and ship operator sentenced over fatal 2021 collision
A court in Southampton, England, has sentenced the captain of a British cargo vessel and its operator for their roles in a December 2021 Baltic Sea collision that resulted in the deaths of two Danish seamen.
The crash occurred when the Scot Carrier, managed by Intrada Ships Management Ltd, collided with the Karin Høj, a Danish-registered barge, causing it to capsize. Investigators later determined that serious failures in watch-keeping and safety protocols contributed to the accident.
Sam Farrow, the 33-year-old master of the Scot Carrier, was sentenced on 14 Feb to eight months in prison, suspended for 12 months, for failing to prevent the collision, despite being aware that his second officer was unfit for duty. He was also ordered to pay £25,000 (€30,000) in legal costs.
Meanwhile, Intrada Ships Management Ltd was fined £180,000 and ordered to pay £500,000 in legal costs for failing to enforce safety measures that could have prevented the accident.
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In 2022, a Danish court sentenced Mark Wilkinson, the second officer, to 18 months in prison after admitting to gross negligence and intoxication while on duty. Additionally, he received a 12-year ban from entering Denmark and had his maritime license revoked for operations in Danish waters.
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