– They almost started laughing

Less than 3 hours ago

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Jan Vindenes, better known as “Kjetting-Jan”, has secured a contract with a customer in Bahrain for the delivery of mooring equipment in August, writes E24.

– There is a customer in Bahrain who needs to moor a large tanker. The delivery is in August for 30 million kroner, says Vindenes, who does not want to name the customer.

He goes on to say that the agreed amount is relatively large in the anchor and chain industry, and describes it as “a giant agreement”.

– We’ve got money already!

Vindenes started Castle Hills AS, a supplier of maritime equipment, last year and is the general manager of the company. He became seriously known when he dumped 25 tonnes of chain at the chemist in Fjell as wealth tax in 2017.

The customer’s loss was Jans’ gain

Vindenes says that the customer claims to have been exposed to fraud. According to him, the customer in Bahrain must have paid NOK 30 million to an alleged Chinese supplier before the delivery had taken place. After that, the customer should not have heard anything more.

– It’s stupid to be scammed, but it was luck for us. It is good that they found us, otherwise they would not have been able to moor their big tanker, he says.

He claims that only his company worldwide could help the customer at such short notice.

– They almost started laughing on the phone, and said “you have saved our lives”.

Looking positively ahead

Vindenes says that the contract has secured operations for the company for many years to come, as well as capital to invest further for expansion.

– I can hopefully build more jobs at Sotra, outside Bergen.

He expects that the contract will be a good reference that will provide the company with more customers in the future. The company’s goal is to serve the entire world.

– My level of ambition for the next five years is to create a company with a profit of 10-20 million a year.

Vindenes says that logistics and shipping of equipment have generally been two major challenges in the industry. This year, the invasion of Ukraine has also had ripple effects.

– There has been a shortage of steel in Europe this year due to the war. It strikes in our industry.