Blue Water founder Kurt Skov receives Lifetime Achievement Award

The Heavy Lift Awards is designed to celebrate the many individuals and companies whose vision, innovation and commitment help to shape the transport and logistics sector. With this year, celebrating Blue Water’s founder Kurt Skov by awarding the Lifetime Achievement Award.

This award is presented to the individual who has made a long-lasting impact on the specialised transport and project forwarding industry. Kurt Skov is described by the Heavy Lift judges as someone that not only built one of the most important and recognisable businesses in project logistics but also someone that has a level of humility rarely found: “Kurt Skov has never lost touch with his roots nor value set. Rather than managing from the top, he leads from the middle – as a captain and creative midfielder, seeing the big picture and involving fellow players and supporting them with their challenges and responsibilities”.

“I am deeply honoured”, says Kurt Skov. “My interest and dedication to the heavy lift industry has always been great. This sector has given me and Blue Water many memories. Being involved in numerous unique projects and transports has created long-lasting relationships with customers and partners”.

Over 50 years of project logistics

Blue Water has been active in the heavy lift industry since 1972 when Kurt Skov founded the company at the age of 25. In Esbjerg, Denmark, a team of three freight forwarders in a 20 square metre office managed the various logistics. Today, more than 50 years later, Blue Water holds more than 2,500 employees in 80 locations and a yearly turnover of 1.3 billion USD (2022). For more than 40 years, Kurt Skov was CEO, but for the last five years he has been Chairman of the Board.

Kurt Skov created a company with solid, evident values and a strong team, where every employee is a valuable and responsible player in creating high-quality transport and logistics solutions - especially within global and advanced project logistics.

“Our strong position in the market is due to the dedication, knowledge and daily efforts of every single employee at Blue Water. Without them, we would not have developed so successfully – and I would not have had the honour of receiving this lifetime achievement award, which I will proudly share with all Blue Water colleagues,” says Kurt Skov.

The Blue Water legacy 

In 2007, Kurt Skov made the decision to hand over 75 percent of the shares in Blue Water to an independent commercial foundation; The Blue Water Foundation. This was done to secure the company’s ownership, existence and future development in an industry characterised by acquisitions and consolidation. Today, his daughter Anne Skov is chair of the Foundation.