OUR HISTORY

OY_historical

In 1958, Arne Ørskov established Ørskov Christensen’s Steel shipyard with facilities on the north side of Frederikshavn harbor. Arne Ørskov managed to create a new building shipyard that employed many of the local citizens of Frederikshavn and throughout the years, Arne expanded the business and acquired more facilities on the harbor. In 1972, Arne decided to retire from what he considered his personal masterpiece and turned it over to his son, Niels Ørskov Christensen. Niels Ørskov had seen the development of the company through his dad and by the time he took over, Niels had become an engineer who was ready and determined to lead the shipyard to further growth. Over the next 30 years, Ørskov Christensen’s Steel shipyard grew rapidly and Niels experienced a substantial increase in new building orders. The influence the shipyard had on Frederikshavn and its citizens is unquestionable. In 1999, Ørskov Christensen’s Steel shipyard invested in half of the facilities previously occupied by Danyard, located on the south side of the harbor, which was forced to close due to rough times in the industry. However, towards the end of the new building era, Niels realized that the prize of steel had become too expensive and the competitive advantage had moved to other parts of the world, particularly Asian countries.

OY_historical_2

By 2003, Ørskov Christensen’s Steel shipyard did no longer exist and the remaining funds had been reinvested into a new corporation named Orskov Yard A/S (OY). Niels Ørskov Christensen partly retired and his son, Jeppe Ørskov, became director and his daughter, Christina Ørskov, became chairman of the board of directors. New buildings of ships were no longer a trademark in Frederikshavn and OY changed their business strategy to conversions and repair of all types of vessels in cooperation with local subcontractors. OY benefits from the property previously owned by Ørskov Christensen’s Steel shipyard and the daily operations take place on facilities on both the north and south side of the harbor. In 2012, OY expanded its corporation and established Orskov Offshore A/S and in 2014, Orskov Group got ISO 9000, 14011 and 18001 certificates. In the same year, the then director, Jeppe Ørskov, was diagnosed with cancer and sadly passed away the following year. This led to a necessary change in the organization where Christina Ørskov became director and Niels Ørskov Christensen stepped in as chairman of the board of directors. Later that year, OY Group decided to hire Lars Fischer as sales and technical director, and today Christina Ørskov and Lars Fischer forms the Board of Executives.