Aalborg: The centre of it all

In the Port of Aalborg, Denmark, a once-quiet workshop has undergone a remarkable transformation in recent years. The workshop, which traditionally served Danish shipowners and charterers, has rapidly evolved into a bustling global hub for field service tool kits supporting Kongsberg Maritime’s maintenance operations worldwide. This transformation has led to faster maintenance and servicing times for shipowners and charterers. The key was Covid.  
 

A vision for growth 

The journey began in 2019 when the Aalborg workshop developed the idea for standardised toolkits for field service engineers working on dry-docked vessels. These toolkits have since become a key feature of Kongsberg Maritime’s global field service operations.

The project was the brainchild of Rasmus Ydegaard, the company’s Aalborg Workshop Manager and a former field service engineer. He understood the challenges engineers faced when working on docked vessels in remote locations. Highly specialised and expensive tools needed by service engineers might not be immediately available, causing delays. Shipyards might not have such equipment as specialised hydraulic wrenches or unique lifting gear on hand when field engineers arrive. 

“We decided that we needed to do something dramatic,” recalls Rasmus. “We saw an opportunity to streamline our operations and provide better support to our engineers in the field,” he says, adding that by addressing this challenge, he and his colleagues could ensure quicker turnaround times, while improving the quality and safety of the task. By using Kongsberg Maritime tooling, the calibration and certification is guaranteed, and the correct tools are always available. This makes the work safer and more controlled for the field service engineers.

The key to everything was getting the toolkit and the delivery system right. Standardised containers, arrangements and accounting, backed up by rigorous measuring and calibrating of tools, ensured that Kongsberg Maritime field service engineers would arrive on site and be able to start work without delays. 
Though work began on the toolkit idea in 2019, it was the Covid pandemic that accelerated things. “During lockdown we weren’t as busy with regular operations, so we used that time to create and perfect our toolkits,” Rasmus explains. “It was a period of intense focus and innovation.”

His idea has taken off and the Aalborg office now distributes its toolkits to docked vessels worldwide. The transformation of the workshop has not been without its challenges. Managing the logistics of shipping tools to various locations around the world requires plenty of coordination and planning. Aalborg currently has 13 administrative personnel, 26 field service engineers and 10 workshop engineers. The team supported more than 250 dry dockings during 2025, up from 160 in 2024.

“We face bottlenecks, either in tooling or human resources,” Rasmus says. “However, we are continuously expanding our tool inventory and hiring new staff to keep up with demand.”

With a growing team and an expanding inventory of specialised tools, the workshop is well-positioned to continue as a global hub for field service tooling. The team is also exploring new opportunities, such as on-site machining, which will allow company engineers to carry out advanced repairs directly on vessels, further reducing downtime and costs for customers. 

“We have all the technical information: tech support, machine drawings, know-how and repair procedures,” Rasmus says, and he has high ambitions for his workshop. “We also have the skilled people, and extra machinists were hired recently.” 
“We are constantly looking for ways to innovate and improve our services,” he continues. “Our goal is to provide the best possible support to our engineers and customers, ensuring that they have the tools and resources they need to succeed.” 

The Aalborg workshop has been so successful that Kongsberg Maritime will develop the concept into key global hubs, cutting maintenance time even more.  

“Right now, we are effectively controlling and coordinating everything from Aalborg. Where we want to be is to have regional hubs, similar to Aalborg. This would make servicing in the Americas and Asia-Pacific even faster than it is now,” says Tony Cove, the company’s Head of Global Workshops.