Ulsteinvik (Hareidlandet Island Norway)

Ulsteinvik is a port town located on Hareidlandet Island (county More Og Romsdal, Norway). The small town covers a total area approx 4 km2 (2 mi2) and has a population of around 6,000. The port is located on the island's western coast, approx 23 km (14 mi) southwest of Alesund.

The port features a natural harbour and has two large shipbuilding yards - Ulstein Verft and Kleven Verft. Here are also based several other maritime-related companies, the largest among which is the global head office of Rolls-Royce Marine.

Kleven Verft Shipyard

Kleven shipyard is located on Dimnoya Island. The shipbuilding yard is operated as a subsidiary of the Norwegian company Kleven Maritime. Kleven Werft was founded in 1939 as a shipbuilding company, with its first complete built vessel launched in 1961. In 1980, the company acquired Loland Verft (Hyllestad) as a subsidiary (renamed Kleven Loland). In 1989 was added another subsidiary company - Kleven Floro.

In April 1990, the Kleven company merged with Kvaerner Group and was renamed "Kvaerner Kleven Ulsteinvik". On July 1, 1999, the shipyard was bought back by the Kleven brothers. In September 2017, due to financial difficulties, the cruise company Hurtigruten invested NOK 300 million (around USD 36,7 million) into the shipyard (at 40% interest) to secure shipbuilding orders.

Here were constructed the Hurtigruten cruise ships Finnmarken (2002, now Otto Sverdrup), Nordnorge (1997) and Nordkapp (1996), as well as the new expedition ships Roald Amundsen (2018) and Fridtjof Nansen (2019).

• In August 2017, Hurtigruten made an investment of NOK 300 million (USD 39 million) in Kleven Group for a 40% interest. In September 2017, Hurtigruten acquired 40% stocks in Kleven Verft after the shipyard experienced a financial crisis. Along with Hurtigruten, Kleven Group (parent company for the shipyards Kleven and Myklebust) includes Age Remoy, the Kleven-owned companies John Kleven and H-Invest, the yacht building company Lurssen (Germany) and the private investor Per Lillebo. Without the newly infused capital, Kleven shipyard was facing bankruptcy.
• In June 2018, Hurtigruten became the full owner of the shipyard by buying the remaining 60% shares. Under the 2018 deal, Hurtigruten also fully owns the subsidiaries Kleven Maritime Contracting and Kleven Maritime Technology. Following the acquisition, Hurtigruten provided NOK 600 million (USD 75 million) financing in order to facilitate Kleven Verft's shipbuilding capabilities.

Today, Kleven shipyard builds supply vessels, as well as ferries, reefer ships (for refrigerated cargo) and tankers.

In 2019, the shipyard started a restructuring project, which also included creating a new company under the old Kleven name. While still planning to continue with the new shipbuilding projects, the yard's short-term projects now are low-risk and focusing on vessel reconstructions (drydock refits and refurbishments) as well as regularly scheduled maintenance works. based on the company's new strategy, its workforce was reduced from 224 to 140. Also, were reported financial losses (in 2015-2019) ~NOK 1 billion (~USD 112 M / ~EUR 100 M). In 2019, Kleven started negotiations with Hurtigruten to reconstruct several of its cruise ferries.

In January 2020, Kleven Verft was acquired by DIV Group. The new yard owner also owns (since 2013) the Brodosplit Shipyard in Split Croatia. On July 3, 2020, Kleven Verft AS filed for bankruptcy protection. In mid-July was announced that the Norwegian ship recycling company Green Yard AS (based in Feda, Norway) takes over the bankrupted Kleven Verft after entering into an agreement with the involved banks and the Norwegian bankruptcy authorities to acquire the shipyard (renamed to "Green Yard Kleven").