Vaagen Verft

"In February 1982, several thousand miles away from Seattle, John Kjønsvik heavily sat down in the director's chair at Vaagen Verft, at Kyrksæterøra in Sør-Trøndelag. He was desperate. The shipyard he had taken over from his father and founder Alfred Kjønsvik, was struggling. They were not making money, and it was almost impossible to fill the order books. The new director had himself steered Vaagen Verft to where it was now. Indeed, he had been hit hard by the economic downturn, but a combination of high consumption, the director’s many trips abroad, and aggressive business management meant that Vaagen Verft was in big trouble. But he had an idea to create a mini-trawler, and the engineers had designed a 69-foot small boat called Ruggen. Maybe this product could save them, so he wouldn't have to drive the family business off a cliff? The difficulties would have made a more cautious director slow down and try to weather the storm, but Kjønsvik decided to gamble his way out of the predicament. He wanted to bet on Ruggen."

"And while Vaagen Verft needed the money for everything else, Kjønsvik ordered a boat from the American shipyard Flohr Metal Fabricators Inc. in Seattle, USA – with no buyer at hand, of course. It was enough to shake one's head at. The shipyard lacked both contracts and money, and yet the CEO went ahead and ordered a boat from another shipyard?!"