Kings Bay AS

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Kings Bay AS
Type State owned
Founded 1916
Headquarters Ny-Ålesund, Norway
Area served Svalbard
Industry Infrastructure
Revenue NOK 36.8 million (2005)
Net income NOK 0.2 million (2005)
Employees 32 (2007)
Parent Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Industry
Website www.kingsbay.no

Kings Bay 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 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 administrating Bjørnøen AS, a government enterprise that ownes the entire island of Bjørnøya (Bear Island). In the summer the company also handles cruise ships that arrive at Ny-Ålesund.

[edit] History

It was in 1916 that the company was founded, 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. A research facility was subsequently set up in at Ny-Ålesund, to be run by the company.