Bent Martini finished at Hurtigruten – E24

Hurtigruten informs VG. Bent Martini was a director of Hurtigruten.

Nordlys was the first to report the case.

– Chief Operating Officer Bent Martini and Hurtigruten agree that Martini will resign from his position as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Executive Officer and President of Hurtigruten Cruise AS with permanent effect effective October 9, 2020, and that his employment will end on November 6 2020, Hurtigruten writes in an email to VG.

Hurtigruten’s chief operating officer, Bent Martini, who was on board the MS ‘Roald Amundsen’, temporarily resigned from Hurtigruten’s management while the company was investigated. Martini was on paid leave until October.

A total of 71 people in the crew and passengers have been diagnosed with corona infection after two trips with MS “Roald Amundsen”. Hurtigruten has previously been criticized for failing to notify passengers until two days after they learned of the infection on board.

In a statement through the press department at Hurtigruten, Martini says he is ready to move on:

– I am glad that the research report focuses on learning. Hurtigruten Cruise AS is now facing important work to address the challenges identified in the Norwegian Maritime Directorate’s investigation and audit report, Martini writes in an email to VG, adding:

– Now I want to use my skills and the next phase of my career outside of Hurtigruten.

Hurtigruten CEO Daniel Skjeldam says he wishes Martini good luck with the new challenges:

– From the investigation report it is clear that there is not a single person or incident that was the only reason that things went wrong around the EM Roald Amundsen outbreak. We have a strong organization that is now working on the findings and recommendations. I wish Bent the best of luck with the new challenges.

Asta Lassesen has been interim COO while Martini was on leave.

This was stated in Hurtigruten’s investigative report that was released on September 18:

• Hurtigruten Cruise AS’s risk management process has been insufficient.
• Hurtigruten did not implement enough risk reduction measures to test foreign crews in Norway prior to enlistment.
• The quarantine rules were practiced incorrectly.
• Suspicion of infection was not followed up during travel and COVID-19 testing was not carried out on time.
• When Hurtigruten received positive test results on July 31, it was some time before the crisis management system was implemented.

– The EM Roald Amundsen outbreak was not due to a single incident or the actions of an individual. The situation arose as a result of a series of incidents and actions, said the leader of the investigation, Jan Fougner.

Report disclosed conflict

VG has previously written that Hurtigruten did not want to be mentioned in the press release that the municipality of Hadsel would send about a case of infection.

The report comments on the dialogue between senior managers that should have taken place behind the scenes.

On July 28, four days after the first voyage with the MS “Roald Amundsen” was completed, one of the passengers was confirmed to be infected. The person was a resident of Hadsel Township and infection detection was initiated. The municipality’s infection control doctor wanted to warn the passengers.

Martini has explained that he was instructed by CEO Daniel Skjeldam to prevent Hurtigruten from being mentioned in the discussion of the infection case, he says.

In addition, the report notes that Skjeldam has explained that said instruction was not carried out, and that he was concerned about what documentation the municipality had to mention Hurtigruten “all the time it was said that FHI and the people involved in Hurtigruten believed that the infection did not it had happened on board. “

When the board presented the report in September, it was clear that they had full confidence in CEO Daniel Skjeldam:

– We believe that Daniel Skjeldam, with his others in senior management, with employees and with the union will do a good job in the future, said the chairman of the board, Trygve Hegnar.

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