Adm. direktør hos West-Marine Carsten Larsen er stolt over at levere survival kits til offshore vindmøller, og han trækker gerne selv i arbejdstøjet i weekenden for at kunne levere rettidig til kunderne.

Boom in sales of survival kits for offshore wind turbines

West Marine has supplied survival kits since offshore wind began - and now sales have increased.

15. FEB 2023 12.47

Jesper Ernlund Lassen

Af Jesper Ernlund Lassen, jesper@dkmedier.dk

Things are going well at West-Marine A/S in Esbjerg, it's even going so well that extra work is planned for the coming weekend. And it is also something that managing director Carsten Larsen himself takes part in.

- We all take a hard time this weekend packing survival kits, because it is necessary, and of course I do that myself, explains the director and elaborates on the reason for the extra work:

- We have seen a boom in sales of our survival kits for offshore wind turbines in recent years.

Every offshore wind turbine has at least one survival kit for survival in an emergency, and the contents vary according to whether it is a survival kit for Siemens Gamesa, Vestas or GE.

With the upcoming major expansion of offshore wind both in Denmark and worldwide, there is a possibility that there will be even more days of overtime for the 25 employees at West-Marine in the future.

- We see good opportunities to make more in the future. After all, we have been involved from the very beginning of offshore wind 10-15 years ago. The reason we can do this is because of the great flexibility of our employees, says Carsten Larsen.

Successful strategy – new hires on the way

West-Marine's activities range widely from making survival kits for the wind industry to boat and ship repairs with, for example, installation of thrusters and other services. But the company also sells other equipment for the offshore industry and the maritime area. It is a deliberate strategy.

- It is part of our multi-pronged strategy, and it works, Carsten Larsen asserts.

It even works so well that there is a need to hire more employees. But right now it's not easy - especially not in Esbjerg.

- We are looking for two skilled salespeople who have technical understanding, but the recruitment situation right now is hot - especially here in Esbjerg. It is difficult to find people, says Carsten Larsen.

West-Marine is also known for having employees with long seniority, the staff also includes three flexi-jobbers.

This article has been automatically translated from danish.