State owned | |
Industry | Infrastructure |
Founded | 1916 |
Headquarters | Ny-Ålesund, Norway |
Area served
|
Svalbard |
Key people
|
Ole Charles Ryder Øiseth (CEO) |
Revenue | 36.8 million kr (2005) |
0.2 million kr (2005) | |
Number of employees
|
32 (2007) |
Parent | Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Industry |
Website | www.kingsbay.no |
Kings Bay AS is a government enterprise owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Industry that operates the entire settlement of Ny-Ålesund on Svalbard. The settlement, the most northerly civilian in the world serves research staff. The company provides the necessary infrastructure, such as transport (including the airport Ny-Ålesund Airport, Hamnerabben), real estate, power and water supply, catering and other facilities. The company is also responsible for administering Bjørnøen AS, a government enterprise that owns the entire island of Bjørnøya. In the summer the company also handles cruise ships that arrive at Ny-Ålesund.
The company was founded in 1916 as Kings Bay Kull Company with the intention of operating a coal mine. It was later nationalized, and in 1962 the mine closed in the context of a political crisis in Norway known as the Kings Bay Affair (Kings Bay-saken). A research facility was subsequently set up in at Ny-Ålesund, to be run by the company.