Norwegian Coastal Administration ( no, Kystverket) is a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

government agency responsible for the

water transport infrastructure Marine architecture is the design of architectural and engineering structures which support coastal design, near-shore and off-shore or deep-water planning for many projects such as shipyards, ship transport, coastal management or other marine and/o ...

along the 9,200 km Coast of Norway. It is responsible for coastal navigation infrastructure,

pilotage Piloting or pilotage is the process of navigating on water or in the air using fixed points of reference on the sea or on land, usually with reference to a nautical chart or aeronautical chart to obtain a fix of the position of the vessel or air ...

and harbour and

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

infrastructure, including

lighthouses A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mar ...

. The agency is led by the Coastal Directorate (''Kystdirektoratet'') and is subordinate to the Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs. The main office is in

Ålesund Ålesund () sometimes spelled Aalesund in English, is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal County, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Sunnmøre and the centre of the Ålesund Region. The town of Ålesund is the administrativ ...

. It has 1100 employees.

History

The administration was created in 1974 when the Norwegian Directorate of Harbours,

Naval Pilot Authority The Naval Pilot Authority ( no, Losvesenet) was a government agency responsible for maritime pilotage in Norway between 1899 and 1974. Its central administration was the Naval Pilot Directorate () in Oslo. The operational organization consisted of ...

and the Norwegian Coastal Navigation Administration were merged. It took its present name in 1981, after it had been reorganised into five regional offices, located in Arendal, Haugesund,

Kabelvåg Kabelvåg is a village in Vågan Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is located on the southern shore of the island of Austvågøya in the Lofoten archipelago. Kabelvåg lies about to the southwest of the town of Svolvær, the adminis ...

and

Honningsvåg , other_name = , native_name = , nickname = , settlement_type = Town , image_skyline = Honningsvåg-01.jpg , image_caption = View of the city , pushpin_map = Finnmark#Nor ...

. In 2002 the head office was moved from

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

to Ålesund and in 2006 the construction division,

Secora Secora is Norwegian government enterprise created in 2005 to perform construction work on water transport infrastructure, both sea lanes and ports. The company was originally part of Kystverket, that is responsible for water transport infrastruc ...

, was demerged and became a separate

limited company In a limited company, the liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by shares or by guarantee. In a company limited by shares, the lia ...

owned by the

Ministry of Trade and Industry A Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry or variations is a ministry that is concerned with a nation's trade, industry and commerce. Notable examples are: List *Algeria: Ministry of Industry and ...

. The maritime radio service is provided by

Telenor Maritime Radio Telenor Kystradio (formerly Telenor Maritim Radio) is a part of Telenor and provides maritime telecommunication services along the coast of Norway, operating networks of marine VHF radio, medium frequency, high frequency and Navtex transmitt ...

. In 2002, the agency was moved from Oslo to Ålesund, along wit six other directorates and inspectorates, in a program initialized by

Victor Norman Victor Danielsen Norman (born 18 July 1946 in Risør) is a Norwegian economist, politician for the Conservative Party and newspaper columnist. He is a retired professor of economics at the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) and former Chairman ...

, Minister of Government Administration and Reform of the Conservative Party. It cost 729 million Norwegian krone (NOK) to move the seven agencies. An official report from 2009 concluded that the agencies had lost 75 to 90% of their employees, mostly those with long seniority, and that for a while critical functions for society were dysfunctional. No costs reductions had been made, there was no significant impact on the target area, and there was little impact on the communication between the agencies and the ministries. In a 2010 report, Professor Jarle Trondal concluded that none of the agencies had become more independent after the move, despite this being one of the main arguments from the minister. Norman successor,

Heidi Grande Røys Heidi Grande Røys (born 6 May 1967) is a Norwegian politician for the Socialist Left Party. She became Minister of Modernisation in 2005, renamed to Minister of Government Administration and Reform since 2006 in the second cabinet Stoltenberg. S ...

of the Socialist Left Party, stated that the moving had had an important symbolic effect on the target areas, and that she did not see the lack of advantages as a reason to not move similar agencies later.

References

External links

Official site
{{authority control Water transport in Norway Government agencies of Norway Lighthouses in Norway Lighthouse organizations Government agencies established in 1974 1974 establishments in Norway Organisations based in Ålesund Ministry of Transport (Norway) Maritime pilotage organizations