Side-effects for local business 

 

For several years, the island’s local shipyard, Aker Aukra, had been struggling as a result of a decline in the volume of orders. In order to adapt to a new age – where ships are built in low-cost countries in Asia and East Europe – the company converted the shipbuilding area into a business park covering some 3 acres.

Many companies moved in, including Tess, Molde Engineering, Linjebygg Offshore. And then...  Ormen Lange came to the island.
 
In addition to the order to build the new ferry – the hull was built at Aker Yards shipyard in Romania, whilst Aker Aukra did the interior and completion – Hydro supported upgrading of the construction quay to the shipyard.

 Many heavy tonnes of equipment and parts for the processing plant would be brought in here. At the same time, Aker Aukra would play an important role as a mechanical workshop for the contractors.

Several of the companies in the business park also had contracts for the development project. Another local company that would benefit richly from the development was Aukra Maritim, a mechanical workshop a stone’s throw or two from the construction site.
 
Local businessman Odd Småge had large contracts in conjunction with site development and the bus company Aukra Auto has benefited from the increased traffic between Aukra and Molde.
 
Regional business also noticed the side effects of Europe’s largest offshore development. Midsund Bruk, on the neighbouring island of Midsund, won a contract worth NOK 70 million that comprised the delivery of 16 large process tanks that separate gas and oil.

 Each of the tanks weighs some 90 tonnes. For the supplier of high-tech process equipment, which specializes in processing special steel, the order provided an important injection of resources in a difficult market.
 
In total, contracts worth NOK 1.2 billion were awarded to businesses in Aukra and its neighbouring municipalities, whilst the region Mid-Norway received orders for NOK 2.9 billion.
 
Aukra is no longer a municipality that people leave. This is evidenced by the number of school pupils. The sizes of the classes are growing. Aud Mork and the municipality welcome them with open arms, and with new faith in the future of this rural municipality.

 A new nursery is ready to open just before the first gas molecules are released in the Langeled pipeline. And it is sorely needed. Because the number of births has also increased in the municipality lately, which is now experiencing the largest percentage increase in the population in Møre and Romsdal.
 
Something else has changed. The municipality is no longer a piece of unknown Norwegian geography. Aukra has become well known around the country. The development has not just “happened”, it has done something to the identity of the island municipality.

Like the very home port for Ormen Lange, the most beautiful, grandest, most versatile ship in the whole of Viking history. And one of the largest gas fields in Europe.