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 civilian in the world serves research staff. The company provides the necessary infrastructure, such as transport, 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. A research facility was subsequently set up in at Ny-Ålesund, to be run by the company. From 1964 to 1974, through an agreement with the European Space Research Organisation, the island housed a Norwegian satellite telemetry station. King's Bay resumed primary responsibility for facilities operations in 1974. In the 1990s, research activities expanded in Ny-Ålesund. In 1998 Kings Bay Kull Compani AS changed its name to Kings Bay AS, removing the final reference to coal.
