Kings Bay (company)

Infobox Company
company_name = Kings Bay AS
company_
company_type = State owned
foundation = 1916
location = Ny-Ålesund, Norway
key_people =
area_served = Svalbard
industry = Infrastructure
products =
revenue = profit NOK 36.8 million (2005)
net_income = NOK 0.2 million (2005)
num_employees = 32 (2007)
parent = Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Industry
subsid =
homepage = [http://www.kingsbay.no www.kingsbay.no ]
footnotes =

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 ownes 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.