Northern Endeavour sent to scandal-plagued Danish shipyard

The shipyard tasked with decommissioning the oil platform has a record of workplace accidents, illegal housing and toxic emissions – yet Canberra signed off on the deal.

The Northern Endeavour will be decommissioned at a shipyard with a record of workplace accidents. Picture: Department of Industry, Science and Resources.

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A Danish shipyard picked by ­Resources Minister Madeleine King’s department to assist in the biggest oil infrastructure clean-up in Australia’s history has been plagued by a litany of workplace accidents and safety violations, with former employees branding it the “most dangerous” job site in Denmark.

The Australian last month revealed the Department of Industry Science and Resources had awarded a $35.6m contract to US shipbreaking firm Modern American Recycling Services to recycle the Northern Endeavour – a disused, publicly owned oil platform moored in the Timor Sea – at its European facility in the Danish port of Frederikshavn.

The decision to transport the vessel more than 13,000km overseas came despite Ms King’s previous promise to use the vessel to kickstart a domestic decommissioning sector.

Resources Minister Madeleine King spurned local bids in sending the Northern Endeavour to Denmark. Picture: Martin Ollman/NewsWire

Its export prompted fierce criticism from business and unions, who accused Labor of squibbing its commitment to revitalise domestic industry via its Future Made in Australia agenda.

MARS, which began operating in Denmark in 2019, claims on its website a “strong emphasis on continuous improvement and re­g­ular assessments to ensure high standards of safety and quality.”

On awarding MARS the contract in June, the department noted it had fulfilled its commitment so that the vessel’s decommissioning “protects the safety of people and the environment”.

But that claim is belied by a string of accidents and violations of Danish industrial law, the number of which has only increased in recent months according the country’s workplace regulator.

Most recently in December, local media reported that a 33-year-old MARS employee suffered serious lacerations while using a high-pressure water cleaner. The injuries required the individual to be flown to hospital for treatment.

Earlier in 2024, Danish union 3F accused a MARS subcontractor of exploiting Lithuanian migrant workers by housing them in a warehouse near its Frederikshavn facility under “deplorable conditions”. The building had been illegally converted into dormitories without the necessary municipal approvals for residential use, the union alleged.

Additional safety concerns have also emerged, including reports of missing handrails on scaffolding and gangways, as well as a 2023 incident in which crude carrier Zafiro Producer broke free from its moorings at the Frederikshavn site and collided with a neighbouring gas rig, destroying its heli-deck and triggering a lawsuit against MARS.

A high-profile accident in 2021 further fuelled scrutiny after a newly hired employee fell 6m onto a hard surface; instead of calling emergency services, the worker was reportedly driven to hospital in a private vehicle – an action in line with an alleged MARS policy to handle injuries in-house to avoid alerting the authorities.

Modern American Recycling Services’ facility in Frederikshavn has witnessed a host of workplace safety accidents

In a statement, Denmark’s workplace safety watchdog, the Danish Working Environment Authority, told The Australian that it had issued 10 injunctions against MARS for violations of the country’s workplace laws.

Four of those have been issued in the first six months of 2025 – the most of any calendar year since MARS commenced operations in Denmark.

The Australian sent a detailed series of questions to MARS, including whether the company had informed the department of these incidents when it tendered for the contract to recycle the Northern Endeavour. MARS did not respond to a request for ­comment.

Industry insiders familiar with the tender process said the decision to send the Northern Endeavour to Denmark was driven entirely by attempts to contain costs, as the total clean-up bill – funded by a levy on Australia’s offshore oil and gas sector – has ballooned beyond $1bn.

Shedding light on the torrid workplace conditions at MARS, Christian Fischer, a former employee of the company, told The Australian that its Frederikshavn facility was the “most dangerous” workplace in the country.

“Most of us were expected to work with almost no safety equipment,” Mr Fischer said. “We had to fight to get spare parts because the CEO did not want to spend the money. I had worked at shipyards in the past, and I still do, and nowhere before or since (did I) meet a company who worried so little about its employees.”

Mr Fischer said he was left limping for two weeks after being struck by a 65kg piece of scrap metal when at work, and recalls his colleagues being hospitalised for smoke inhalation amid a lack of access to fresh face masks.

Michael Larsen, another former MARS employee, was badly injured when molten metal splashed onto his foot during the steel-cutting process, searing his skin and leaving him in excruciating pain.

“My foot got an infection and swelled up to a size 47 … I’m usually a size 43. The foreman just gave me a bigger size boot so I could continue to work,” he said, adding he was ordered to return to the site the next day.

Allegations that toxic fumes have been emitted from its Danish facility have also dogged MARS, with unions and local residents raising concerns over thick smoke billowing from the yard during the scrapping process.

In response to inquiries about MARS’s controversial history and the government’s knowledge of it, a spokesman for Ms King did not provide a direct answer, instead saying the department had “independently conducted rigorous due diligence” during the tender evaluation.

“The contract with MARS includes strict safety and environmental requirements, designed to ensure MARS complies with all applicable Australian WHS and environmental obligations,” the spokesman said.

“MARS has been contracted following a global, competitive open tender process. The department will work closely with MARS to ensure the works are completed to the highest safety and environmental standards in accordance with the contract terms.”

While Ms King has claimed that the Northern Endeavour’s decommissioning cannot be achieved locally, that view is flatly rejected by industry and unions alike. They say the oil platform can be scrapped in Australia, creating hundreds of jobs and injecting millions into the Australian economy.

Critics say Labor’s directive to send the vessel overseas also puts Australia in breach of its obligations under the Basel Convention, an international treaty that bars countries from exporting hazardous waste if they are capable of managing it in an environmentally sound manner within their own borders.