Translation by Google because it was too long for deepL.
"Today we have witnessed the biggest circus of shit ever presented live on TV," Haltbakk bunkers begins a post on social media.
- As you probably understand, not a liter will be delivered until Trump is finished, the owner tells Kystens Næringsliv.
The post on the bunker supplier's Facebook page is in English. It also has an international audience.
The post from sole owner Gunnar Gran takes aim at "the sitting US president and his vice president", and the meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj on Friday 28 February this year.
In the meeting, which was streamed globally, the Ukrainian leader met a very vocal version of Trump and JD Vance.
Haltbakk bunkers further writes: Great credit to the Ukrainian president for remaining calm and composed, even though the US stabbed him in the back on TV. It made us sick. In short."
The company is now stopping all sales to US forces and their vessels.
Immediate effect
No fuel for the Americans! is the call so far on the bunker supplier's Facebook page.
- We run a private AS and choose our customers! says Gran to Kystens Næringsliv.
The fuel refusal takes effect immediately, and includes vessels calling at Norwegian ports, it says. Haltbakk bunkers also sends a further call:
- We encourage all Norwegians and Europeans to follow our example. Slava Ukraina, the post continues.
Gunnar Gran tells Kystens Næringsliv that the group has excluded Russians since the invasion.
- It meant that many of our competitors received a lot of extra income. We lost a lot of income. But we have a moral compass. Now the USA is excluded based on their behavior towards the Ukrainians.
Set your mind to boil
On Friday, Zelenskyj was in the White House, and in a meeting with Donald Trump. On the agenda were possible peace negotiations with Russia's Vladimir Putin, but perhaps first and foremost the United States' access to important minerals in Ukraine in the future.
What happened there has set many minds ablaze – and thus also at the Haltbakk bunkers.
According to many, the Ukrainian president was scolded by both Trump and Vance, and left the meeting with both unfinished business and without a promised press conference. Many Western leaders have reacted with disbelief to what happened, and some experts have predicted the end of the current NATO alliance with the United States at the helm.
Prime Minister Støre has so far been cautious in his use of words.
– We cannot draw a unilateral conclusion from this. We have now had five to six weeks with Trump as president. I think we still have to work on understanding the consequences of the style, the moves and the words they use, he tells NRK.
Part of a larger group
It is customers in Norwegian waters and on Norwegian soil that will be affected, Gran tells Kystens Næringsliv.
– No drama. We are only dealing with American warships and ground forces on Norwegian soil. We support Ukraine. We have many Ukrainian employees, and know how terribly this war is affecting them and their families.
Gran does not believe that the boycott “will upset anyone”, as he puts it.
– I think we delivered about 3,000,000 liters in 2024 to them. It is simply moral support.
American naval vessels are not covered by the company's NATO agreements, he says. In Norway, the ships get fuel from a supplier who buys from companies like Hatlbakk bunkers.
– NATO is fragmented in purchasing. The USA also has its own fuel ships as a result.
Haltbakk bunkers is a subsidiary of Haltbakk Group, which is solely owned by CEO Gunnar Gran. The group has regular gas stations, bunker facilities, bunker vessels in addition to crew placement and chartering services. They have. according to its own website, Norway's largest fleet of bunker vessels, and has 2,200 customers at home and abroad.
The company currently has 10 bunker vessels in its fleet, in addition to two fuel tankers. It also has a series of petrol stations, both on land and for the maritime fleet, and transports the fuel itself.
In addition to Haltbakk Bunkers, the group also includes Haltbakk Offshore, Haltbakk Crewing, Haltbakk Coastaltankers, Haltbakk Chartering & Agency, Haltbakk Express, Haltbakk Tankers, Haltbakk Logistics, and Haltbakk Invest – including Haltbakk Eiendom.
In total, the group had operating revenues of NOK 750 million in 2023, of which bunker services accounted for NOK 16 million alone.
Gran took over the bunkers division at the beginning of 2015, and has experienced strong growth with main customers in aquaculture, cruises, and defense – in addition to agreements with NATO.
The coastal industry has also submitted the matter to the Norwegian Shipowners' Association's emergency and Nortraship contact. They do not wish to comment.
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