International maritime media regularly join together in press tours to important areas of maritime activity, and they are frequent visitors to the cluster at Sunnmøre.
Alan Thorpe of the Ship and Offshore Repair Journal visited Ulstein for the first time in the mid 70s, and has been to Sunnmøre more than 20 times.
When the CEO of Ulstein Group, Gunvor Ulstein, met up with Alan today, she came directly from a meeting with politicians in order to achieve a mainland connection from the Ulstein area to Ålesund, the largest city in Sunnmøre. "It's amazing to see the development in this area," commented Alan, not only referring to the maritime activities but also connectivity. "When first coming to Ålesund in the 70s, we needed a ferry to get from the airport to Ålesund, and then one more ferry to get to the island on which Ulstein Group is situated."
Today, the ferry from the airport to Ålesund has been replaced by several underwater tunnels. However, the ferry further to Ulstein is still there.
"For the industry in this area, it is very important to improve the infrastructure," says Gunvor, leader of an international company with its head office on an island, and also Chair of the Board of the Hafast mainland connection.
At Ulstein Group today, the journalists listened to presentations by Ulstein's Chair of the Board, Tore Ulstein. Some of the key suppliers to Ulstein's Lindblad, Sunstone and Color Line projects, Jets, Brunvoll, Ulmatec and ABB, were also invited to present their companies and products.
