Stord

Infobox_Kommune
name = Stord
idnumber = 1221
county = Hordaland
landscape = Sunnhordland
capital = Leirvik
language = Nynorsk


demonym = Stordabu
munwebpage = www.stord.kommune.no
governor = Liv Kari Eskeland (H)
governor_as_of = 2007
arearank = 360
area = 144
arealand = 137
areapercent = 0.04
population_as_of = 2008
populationrank = 60
population = 17,092
populationpercent = 0.36
populationdensity = 120
populationincrease = 5.6
lat_deg = 59 | lat_min = 48 | lat_sec = 29 | lon_deg = 5 | lon_min = 27 | lon_sec = 59
utm_zone = 32V | utm_northing = 6635337 | utm_easting = 0301839 | geo_cat = adm2nd

Stord is a municipality in the county of Hordaland, Norway. Stord is sometimes called "Norway in miniature" - as it has such a variety of landscapes: The coastline, fjords, forests, agricultural land and a beautiful mountain area.

Stord is also the name of the island on which the municipality is located. The island consists of two municipalities, Stord in the south, and Fitjar in the north. In addition to the southern part of the Stord island, the municipality includes the islands of Huglo, Storsøya og Føyno. The main population centres in Stord are Leirvik and Sagvåg.

The parish of "Stordøen" was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). Fitjar was separated from Stord in 1860, and Valestrand in 1868.

The municipality is the one with the highest population in the district of Sunnhordland. Stord was declared a city in 1997.

General information

Name

The municipality is named after the main island of Stord (Old Norse "Storð"). The name is old and was and still is used in Icelandic literature meaning ground or earth. Before 1889, the name was written "Stordøen".

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 19 June 1987. The arms shows a yellow twig of holly on a red field. The designer was Truls Nygaard. [cite web|url=http://www.fotw.us/flags/no-12-21.html|date=28 June 2002|title=Kommunevåpen|publisher= [http://www.fotw.us Flags of the World] |accessdaymonth=21 September|accessyear=2008]

Economy

The 3 biggest companies on Stord, Aker Stord, Aker Elektro, Wartsila and Leirvik MT employs more than 3000 people and are in their respective business world leaders.

Aker Stord, situated south of Leirvik, is the largest yard in Norway. Aker Stord has built and mated the biggest oil production plattforms in the world, Gullfaks C and Troll.

Transportation

An extensive tunnel and bridge system, Trekantsambandet, connected Stord to the mainland and to Bømlo on 30 April 2001.

Airport

The airport in Stord is Stord Airport, Sørstokken.

On 10 October 2006 an airplane from Atlantic Airways skid of the runway at Stord Airport, Sørstokken. Four people died. [cite web | url=http://www.vg.no/pub/vgart.hbs?artid=135070| title = Taleregistratoren fra Stord-flyet er lesbar |accessmonthday = May 5|accessyear = 2007|author = NTB|publisher = VG|language = Norwegian] [cite web | url=http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20061010-0| title = Accident description British Aerospace BAe-146-200A |accessmonthday = May 5|accessyear = 2007|author = Aviation Safety Network|publisher = Aviation Safety Network]

References