The two trade unions Søfartens Ledere and Danish Maritime Pilots have resolved a five-year-old dispute and are now joining forces to establish a new independent pilots association: Lodsforeningen Danmark.
“This is truly a historic day for the pilots in Denmark. A day where we together look ahead to the tasks, challenges, and opportunities that lie before us in the pilotage industry, and which we can now tackle together,” says Lars Sigvardt, chairman of Danish Maritime Pilots.
Going forward, Lodsforeningen Danmark will bring together all pilots, collective agreements, negotiations, and the professional and political work into one independent organization with its own members, union representatives, board, and its own finances.
Søfartens Ledere and Danish Maritime Pilots are both part of Serviceforbundet, which has now approved the new pilots association as a department, where the members of the pilots association will also become members of Søfartens Ledere.
“We are very pleased that the two pilots associations are now united into one association. We have been working on this since both associations became part of Serviceforbundet,” says union chairman John Nielsen from Serviceforbundet.
Moving forward, it will be the new pilots association that negotiates and enters into all collective agreements in the pilotage area. Likewise, it will also be the new pilots association that represents the pilotage area professionally and politically.
The new pilots association is established by converting “Danish Maritime Pilots” into “Lodsforeningen Danmark” and a number of other statutory changes. Danish Maritime Pilots is now convening its members for an extraordinary general meeting on December 16, 2025.
On March 17, 2026, a general meeting is to be held in Lodsforeningen Danmark, where a board must be elected. At the general meeting, the boards of Danske Lodser under Søfartens Ledere and DMP will make their mandates available.
-mauh
