Royal Greenland comments on the claim of a proforma address

The Greenland High Court has recently ruled against Royal Greenland for manning vessels in violation of the manning regulations. In this connection, it appears that fishermen and officers have in several cases had a national registry address at Qasapi 4 in Nuuk – Royal Greenland’s headquarters.

This becomes particularly important in light of the fact that the Greenland Fisheries and Hunting Control accepts Qasapi 4 as a valid address in Greenland for the purpose of fulfilling the requirements of the manning regulations. Even though no one seems to believe that any people actually live at the address.

We are only aware of the three cases in the current case, two Faroese officers and a Greenlandic fisherman. However, according to the head of citizen services in Kommuneqarfik Sermersooq, the practice of using proforma addresses has been going on for years.

This also happened when she took up the position in 2016, she told the Court of Greenland when the case was first heard in 2025. However, she was unable to stop the registrations.

Does not comment on employees' addresses

Sermitsiaq has asked Royal Greenland whether the company will maintain that it was aware of and contributed to people living pro forma on Qasapi 4. We have also asked what is the reason for having fishermen and officers registered in a place where they do not actually live.

We have received the following quotes from Royal Greenland:

– Royal Greenland A/S does not comment on employees' addresses as a general rule. Royal Greenland A/S crews its ships in accordance with the manning regulations in force at any time.

– During a period 3-4 years ago, uncertainty arose about the understanding of the manning rules in connection with a changed practice at the control authority (GFLK). This gave rise to a number of cases and general debate in the industry. In this connection, an impartial external investigation of GFLK was carried out, which was published in March 2022.

– Royal Greenland A/S has had a few cases from this period tried in court. These cases have been concluded, and the outcome has been mixed. Originally, a fine of DKK 210,000 was claimed, and the High Court's verdict was a fine of DKK 135,000. There have been no similar cases subsequently.

– In connection with each fishing trip, manning lists with the statutory information are submitted to the control authority, which supervises that the manning is in accordance with applicable rules. This is also followed by Royal Greenland A/S and does not give rise to comments from the authorities.

After receiving it, Sermitsiaq has repeated our questions to Royal Greenland.

We ask again whether it is correct that the company was aware of and contributed to people living pro forma on Qasapi 4. We would like to hear something about the reason for having fishermen and officers registered in a place where they do not actually live.

Royal Greenland maintains that the above quotes constitute an answer to that.