Høglund Marine Solutions – Gold Sponsor DSM19

Interview with Kåre Høglund, Founder, Business Development Manager, Høglund Marine Solutions.

Høglund Marine Solutions supports DSM19 as Gold Sponsor. What contributed to make this decision?
Well, Jonas was pretty convincing, and we were impressed by the the Donsø island, and all the maritime activity.

What are your expectations for DSM19?
To get closer to the Donsø owners, and convince them to focus on lifetime costs, and take a second look at what we can offer.

What is your best memory from DSM17?
Must maybe have been the evening with the entertainment and the perfect serving of all the guests.

What do you find are the opportunities and the biggest challenges in the Shipping Industry today?
That is a big topic, and I can not speak for the owners, as I do believe they have to fight with companies employing cheap underpaid seamen, where all the focus is profit and where the environment is suffering. For our company, the challenge is based upon the fact, that ship computer systems have become so complicated, that a regular engineer, is not able to understand the technology used. This then leads to a challenge on how to select the different suppliers to a vessel. The yards want to install the cheapest equipment, with no focus on the lifetime cost, but the owners have to understand that they have to increase the investment in order to lower the maintenance cost. But many owners unfortunately have two different budgets: one for the building cost, and another one for the operation cost. Then they often will have to accept the cheap poor systems supplied by the yards. But, we have now experienced that the Donsø owners have got a more technical approach, which we believe is one of the reasons for they’re strong position in the marked.

How would you describe DSM in one word?
Impressive.

And finally, do you prefer a sail or a motor boat for recreation, and why so?
I have a motor boat. I spend most of my time in inside the coast in the Norwegian and the Swedish islands, where the wind is annoying. Enjoying my dinner with a nice vine overlooking a nice calm fjord is some of the nicest moments for me. But I also find it refreshing with a sailboat in rough weather, but then it is with a different crew and a total different setting.