Norwegian Coast Guard wants to move North
The Norwegian Coast Guard wants to move its headquarters to Sortland in northern Norway in order to get closer to waters in the High North. However, hardly any Coast Guard employees want to change place of residence.
In a report handed over the Ministry of Defence this week, the Coast Guard leadership recommends that the headquarters are moved to Sortland in northern Norway. The new headquarters are to help the Coast Guard get closer to the waters in the High North — the areas of biggest priority for the fleet.
However, hardly any of the Goast Guard personnel wants to move north. -The decision has been taken over heads, a representative of the employees says. –Personally, I know nobody who is willing to move to Sortland, he adds.
The Coast Guard employees now demand that the decision is reversed and that they are included in the process, TV2 reports.
The Coast Guard today has two divisions, one based in Bergen and one in Sortland. If the leaders of the Coast Guard get their will, the two divisions will be merged in a northern unit in Sortland. About 800 people work for the Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard operates with a total of 14 vessels and uses the Air Force’s Orion aircrafts and Westland Lynx helicopters, Wikipedia informs. Seven of the vessels has the Barents Sea and the High North as their main field of operations, the KV “Andenes”, the KV “Barentshav”, the KV “Harstad”, the KV “Nordkapp”, the KV “Senja”, the KV “Svalbard” and the KV “Sortland”
