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IN PICTURES: US military unloads transport ship at Aarhus Harbour

Aarhus Harbour on Monday received a US military transport ship loaded with equipment to be transported onwards to Eastern Europe.

Published: 16 January 2023 18:09 CET
IN PICTURES: US military unloads transport ship at Aarhus Harbour
US transport ARC Independence at Aarhus Harbour on January 16th as Denmark provides Host Nation Support before the hardware is transported onwards to Eastern Europe. Photo: Bo Amstrup/Ritzau Scanpix

The 200 metre-long blue and white US military transport ship formed an unusual spectacle in the harbour at Aarhus.

Armoured vehicles and tracked vehicles were among the hardware to be unloaded from the ship just after dawn this morning. The equipment will be transported onwards, initially to Poland according to broadcaster DR.

“We have not previously received a military ship. This is the first time we have been chosen as a transit harbour by the US military. That’s why today is something unusual,” Aarhus Harbour senior press officer Daniel Møller Jensen told DR.

“As Denmark’s largest commercial harbour, we have good conditions and infrastructure to handle large operations like this,” he added.

Photo: Bo Amstrup/Ritzau Scanpix
 

The ship arrived in Aarhus at 5am and was escorted by the Danish navy home guard (Marinehjemmeværnet).

East Jutland Police and the army home guard were also involved in the work to unload the ship alongside 25 US military personnel.

A sergeant with the US personnel involved in the unloading told DR that the equipment would initially be used for military exercises in Poland.

Photo: Bo Amstrup/Ritzau Scanpix

The equipment is part of Operation Atlantic Resolve, which has the objective of showing US ability to strengthen Nato and alliance partners in Eastern Europe through military support, according to a Danish military press statement.

The operation was first set out in 2014 in response to Russian operations in Ukraine during that year, DR writes.

The US military last year used another Danish harbour, Esbjerg, to unload 300 armoured vehicles from a military transport ship. That equipment was also transported on to Poland.

Photo: Bo Amstrup/Ritzau Scanpix

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MILITARY

One in four in Denmark stocked up with ‘crisis’ water and food

A significant proportion of the Danish population has followed official advice to ensure they have enough supplies at home to get by for three days in the event of a crisis.

Published: 25 June 2024 13:40 CEST
One in four in Denmark stocked up with ‘crisis’ water and food

Around a quarter of households have stocked three days’ supplies of water after advice was issued by authorities earlier this month to keep stores in case of a crisis.

A survey for newswire Ritzau by the Voxmeter institute found that around a quarter have already followed the guidelines. Over 1,000 people answered the survey, which was conducted between 6 and 9 days after the announcement.

The Danish Emergency Management Service (Beredsskabstyrelsen, DEMA) on June 15th issued advice for the general public to have certain supplies at home so that they are prepared in the event of a crisis. This can can mean natural events like extreme weather or human acts like cyber attacks or sabotage, DEMA said.

DEMA’s director Laila Reenberg, said at a briefing on the recommendations that there was no need to “rush out in panic” to purchase crisis supplies.

“But when you happen to be out grocery shopping, you can gradually fill out your supplies,” she said.

Some 26 percent said they have sufficient stocks of both food and water, while 72 percent said they did not in the survey conducted between June 21st-24th.

Those proportions are reasonable according to an expert, who said it was not expected that the entire country would rush to supermarkets to shop for the full checklist.

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But the numbers can also be used as a guideline for authorities, said Nina Blom Andersen, specialist in Disaster and Risk Management University College Copenhagen, speaking to news wire Ritzau.

“The authorities should use it as a signpost showing that they should always be aware that there is a group they need to look after,” she said.

The survey also asked respondents if they planned to buy things on the checklist that they do not already have.

Items on the list include power banks, first aid kits and wind-up radios.

“What could change these numbers to people being better prepared at home is continued focus on the task from the media, from authorities and that people keep talking about it in their social networks, private lives and relations,” Andersen said.

Focus on the issue from local as well as national authorities could also boost uptake, she added.

Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen has said that information will be sent to all residents in Denmark by secure email “after the summer”.

Folders will also be placed at libraires and other public institutions, he said.

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