is a town in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

of Ulstein,

Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; en, Møre and Romsdal) is a county in the northernmost part of Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the town of Molde, while Ålesund is t ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

. The town is the commercial and

administrative centre An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located. In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, Lu ...

of Ulstein and as such, Ulsteinvik contains 74% of the municipality's population. The town has a population (2018) of 5,788 and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...

of . The town of Ulsteinvik is located on the west side of the island of Hareidlandet, about southwest of the city of Ålesund. Ulstein Church is located in the town, serving the population of the whole municipality. Ulsteinvik received

town status City status is a symbolic and legal designation given by a national or subnational government. A municipality may receive city status because it already has the qualities of a city, or because it has some special purpose. Historically, city status ...

on 1 July 2000.

Economy

The town is built in a natural harbour (in fact, the town's name means "Ulstein cove" or "Ulstein inlet"), and has an industry driven largely by

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to bef ...

, with two major

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance ...

s: Ulstein Verft and Kleven Verft. The

Ulstein Group Ulstein Group is a group of companies that focus on various marine-related industries, but is mainly known for its shipbuilding and ship design activities. The largest unit is ''Ulstein Verft AS''. The company's head office and primary operations ...

includes the Ulstein Verft shipyard and a growing number of other marine-related companies, the largest of which are Ulstein Power & Control AS and Ulstein Design & Solutions AS. The town has dozens of other maritime-related firms of all sizes, including the global head office of

Rolls-Royce plc Rolls-Royce Holdings plc is a British multinational aerospace and defence company incorporated in February 2011. The company owns Rolls-Royce, a business established in 1904 which today designs, manufactures and distributes power systems for ...

's marine division. The strength of this industry through the middle of the first decade of the 21st century has led to significant expansion and new construction, both residential and commercial. In 2012, Ulsteinvik was the winner of the most attractive town in Norway.

Culture and sports

The Sjøborg theatre, on Ulsteinvik's waterfront, has both film and live theatre venues. It shows a mixture of "global" and

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 ...

feature films (3-5 different films at a time over 10-12 showings per week). In addition, it welcomes a mixture of local and touring live acts, including big band, operatic revues, English- and Norwegian-language dramatic productions and stand-up comedy. Ulsteinvik is the home of

IL Hødd Idrottslaget Hødd is a multi-sports club from Ulsteinvik in Møre og Romsdal, Norway. Founded in 1919, it has sections for team handball, gymnastics and football. It is best known for their men's football team, which since 2015 plays at Høddv ...

, a multi-sport club that includes a

Norwegian First Division The Norwegian First Division, also called 1. divisjon and OBOS-ligaen (named sponsor is property developer OBOS), is the second-highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Each year, the top finishing teams in the 1. divisjon are p ...

(as of 2011) football team. The team has a large local following, and generates strong attendance at their stadium, Høddvoll. Hødd also offers several other sports, including

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the ...

and

rhythmic gymnastics Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform on a floor with an apparatus: hoop, ball, clubs, ribbon. The sport combines elements of gymnastics, dance and calisthenics; gymnasts must be strong, flexible, agile, dexterous and coord ...

. In 2012, Hødd became national cup champions of Norway, beating

Tromsø IL Tromsø Idrettslag is a Norwegian professional football club founded in 1920, based in the city of Tromsø. They play their home games at Alfheim Stadion. Tromsø play in the Eliteserien. Tromsø have won the Norwegian Cup twice, in 1986 and 19 ...

in the final of the

2012 Norwegian Football Cup The 2012 Norwegian Football Cup will the 107th season of the Norwegian annual knockout football tournament. It began with qualification matches in April 2012. The first round was played on 1 May 2012 and the tournament ended with the final on 25 ...

in the

Ullevaal Stadion Ullevaal Stadion () is an all-seater football stadium located in Oslo, Norway. It is the home ground of the Norway national football team, and the site of the Norwegian Cup Final. From its opening in 1926 to 2009 it was the home ground of FK ...

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 of ...

. In addition, Ulsteinvik is the home of smaller clubs in each of

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

(Sunnmøre Rugby). It is also the hometown of men's 400m hurdles world record holder and Olympic champion

Karsten Warholm Karsten Warholm (; born 28 February 1996) is a Norwegian sprinter who competes in the 400 metres and 400 m hurdles. He’s the world record holder in the latter event. In July 2021, he broke the 29-year-old world record in 400 metres hurdles. ...

, as well as Norway's first-choice

football goalkeeper Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

in the Beijing Olympics,

Erika Skarbø Erika Espeseth Skarbø (born 12 June 1987 in Ålesund) is a Norwegian football goalkeeper who currently plays for Arna-Bjørnar in Norway's Toppserien, where she is trained by Reidun Seth. She has also played for IL Hødd and Fortuna Ålesund. S ...

whose father Dag is a director at Rolls-Royce Marine, Ulsteinvik is the birthplace of the underground

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and g ...

Øystein Runde.

Media

Ulsteinvik is the headquarters of the local subscription-based newspaper

Vikebladet Vestposten ''Vikebladet Vestposten'' is the major local newspaper of Ulstein and Hareid in the Sunnmøre region of Norway. History and profile ''Vikebladet Vestposten'' is owned by ''Sunnmørsposten'', which again is owned by Edda Media. The newspaper origin ...

(commonly known by only the first name), formed by a 1989 merger of two previously-existing newspapers (Vikebladet & Vestposten). The community is also served by the free regional weekly RegionAvisa and the

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 ...

-based daily

Sunnmørsposten ''Sunnmørsposten'' () is a newspaper published by Polaris Media in Ålesund, Norway. History and profile In its early days, ''Sunnmørsposten'' competed with several other local newspapers, including ''Aalesunds Avis'' (1917–1957), '' Aalesu ...

Transport

Norwegian county road A Norwegian county road ( nb, Fylkesvei or nn, Fylkesveg) is a highway in Norway owned and maintained by the local county municipality. Some of the roads have road signs. The signs are white with black numbers. History In 1931, a system of na ...

Fv 61 runs along the south edge of the town centre, and is the major route connecting Ulsteinvik to points northeast (municipalities of Hareid and Sula, with connections to

) and south (the villages of Eiksund and Haddal as well as the municipalities of Herøy, Sande, and others). Since its completion in 2008, the Eiksund Tunnel, the world's deepest undersea tunnel, connects Ulsteinvik by road to the mainland via Fv 653. Ulsteinvik is served by one bus company,

Vy Buss Vy Buss, formerly branded as Nettbuss, is the largest bus company in Norway, owned by Vy. It was established on 10 February 2000 as the continuation of the bus operations from former NSB Biltrafikk. In addition to bus services in major parts of ...

, with the express route directly to

operated under its Vy express brand. Ulsteinvik is from the Ørsta–Volda Airport, Hovden, which has several-daily flights to

Oslo Airport, Gardermoen Oslo Airport ( no, Oslo lufthavn; ), alternatively referred to as Oslo Gardermoen Airport or simply Gardermoen, is the international airport serving Oslo, Norway, the capital and most populous city in the country. A hub for Flyr, Norse Atl ...

and

Sogndal Airport, Haukåsen Sogndal Airport ( no, Sogndal lufthavn; ) is a regional airport serving Sogndal Municipality and the surrounding area in Vestland, Norway. It is situated at Haukåsen, from Kaupanger and from Sogndalsfjøra. It serves the whole Sogn district. ...

. It is also served by Ålesund Airport, Vigra, away, which has a broader selection of national and international flights.

References

External links