Kings Bay (company)

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 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 owns the entire island of Bjørnøya (Bear Island). In the summer the company also handles cruise ships that arrive at Ny-Ålesund.

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.