On the present basis, I see no need to take any further action in the matter.
This is how transport minister Thomas Danielsen’s answer to the chairman of the Danish People’s Party, Morten Messerschmidt, ends. The parliamentary politician had asked the minister a §20 question about the dispute between the now bankrupt shipowner, Jørgen Holm Christensen, and Femern A/S. And that is how the minister’s answer can be summarized.
Oral agreement on guard ships
Jørgen Holm Christensen believes that he had a verbal agreement with Femern A/S that he should have the task of guard ship sailing when the Femern project got underway after several years of postponement.
The Minister of Transport has asked Femern A/S to explain what agreements the developer had with the skid owner. And the answer from Femern A/S was that there was no such agreement.
In 2020, Jørgen Holm Christensen personally claimed via his lawyer that Femern A/S, in connection with the termination of the agreement between Øresund Bådservice ApS and Femern A/S in 2012, should have made an oral promise to Jørgen Holm Christensen personally about future boat assignments, the builder announces among other.
No documentation of agreement
The barrister has handled the case on behalf of Femern A/S and supervised the exchange of letters with Jørgen Holm Christensen’s lawyer. In this connection, Jørgen Holm Christensen has been requested to send documentation for the claim that Femern A/S has given Øresund Bådservice ApS and/or Jørgen Holm Christensen a legally binding promise about future boat assignments. The Attorney General has currently not received such documentation, it is further stated in Transport Minister Thomas Danielsen’s (V) reply to Morten Messerschmidt.
Oral agreements remarkable
It has not been possible to get an interview with Morten Messerschmidt, who is traveling to London. But in an SMS reply to FemernReport, he writes that the minister is only repeating Femern A/S’s position, and that the case is thus an allegation against an allegation:
Seen in my eyes, there is only the option called a private lawsuit, but he finds it difficult to document that a verbal agreement has been made about that work. It is almost impossible to prove, regardless of the fact that he has two witnesses who confirmed it.
In any case, it is a strange way on the part of Femern Bælt A/S to approach agreements – that you conclude them orally, writes Morten Messerschmidt.
