History of the port

The history of the Port of Hanstholm dates back to 1917 when the first decision was taken to build a port at Hanstholm, but "much water floated past Hanstholm in the years to come" before the inauguration af the port in 1967.

The inaugural ceremony in the auction hall 1967            Inaugural ceremony in splendid weather 1967  

10 years after the inauguration pier 2 was opened and in 1983 smyril Line opened a ferry connection between Hanstholm, The Faroe Islands, Bergen, Iceland and The Shetlands.

Port of Hanstholm has, besides being the biggest fish market in Denmark, been a major ferry port, where the ferry companies have exploited Hanstholm's position between Norway and the destinations of the Atlantic Ocean.

- And where there are big quantities of fish and lots of traffic - a rich business life dealing with goods and services of various kinds has bloomed - and this has happened quite naturally in Hanstholm; from fish grading, fish auction, fish processing and fish export businesses to goods and transportation, cold stores and services of various kinds - blacksmiths, cooling plant operators, floating dock and trawls - all is to be found at Hanstholm (*see adresses etc. at the website) and continuous user analysis show that Hanstholm is really good at servicing. 

Port of Hanstholm is "the port" - it is the centre of the universe and more than 2200 persons are employed in and around the port activities. But Hanstholm is also a place where you go on holiday - there are housing areas, an indoor shopping centre, you can visit the fish auction and the canon positions - stay the night and book wellness or conference stays at the hotels of the town - and then there is the "gate" to the first national park in Denmark. Besides from being the place where anglers from all over the world come to fish at "the yellow reef" among other places, Hanstholm also has camp sites and room to live...

The Municipality of Thisted is today the owner of the Port of Hanstholm and Ms. birgitte Juhl is the General Manager of the port. Work under high pressure is being carried out, also with help from users of the port, to make a new development plan for the port and this will be presented at a user meetning on 9th June 2009 - because - even if Hanstholm has a lot to be proud of today - Hantsholm wants to move on... 

Import Dates of The Port History

9th June	2009	The development plan for the port is presented at a large scale meeting
	2009	Work on a new development plan for extension of the port is being carried out in 4 work groups - fishing, ferry, goods and other initiatives
June	2008	Opening of new chilled auction terminal and reception for Ms. Birgitte Juhl
May	2008	Accession of Ms. Birgitte Juhl as general Manager of the Port of Hanstholm
8th September	2007	40th Anniversary of the Port - a big conference is held together with the Fish Day - also with first film releases and Mr. Ole Thestrup on stage
1st January	2007	The Municipality of Thisted gets 100% ownership of Port of Hanstholm
26th April	2006	Masterferries starts ferry connection with Mastercat from Hanstholm to Kristiansand
	2006	Rebuilding of piers and dredging of port to 9 meter depth
9th September	2005	Opening of the seafood Centre with unbroken cool chain phase 2
1st January	2001	Port of Hanstholm changes from state to municipal/country port
8th September	1997	30 years anniversary and at the same time opening of swinging pier
	1993	Fjordline opens route "Hanstholm-Egernsund-Haugesund-Bergen"
	1993	Setup of hanstholm Port Forum - member union for marketing, inspiration and development
8th September	1987	20th Anniversary is celebrated and pier 3 opened
	1983	Smyril Line opens ferry connection between Hanstholm, The Faroe Islands, Bergen, Island and the Shetlands
8th September	1977	10 years anniversary and pier 2 opens
8th September	1967	Port of Hanstholm is inaugurated after a construcion period of 7 years
	1955	A new committee is appointed and concludes the opposite of what was said in 1951 - and model tests are carried out by professor Lundgren from Technical University of Denmark
	1951	A committee for public works concludes that Hanstholm is very unsuitable for building of a port
	1917-41	A number of tests to build a west pier are carried out - but the technical status of the past was not able to withstand the power of the waves
	1917	It is decided to build a port of Hanstholm