Posten, Business | Posten moves from Bergen: – A declaration of bankruptcy

The case is updated.

In a press release from Bjørnafjorden municipality, it appears that Posten Bring has entered into an agreement with Bjørnafjorden development company and is choosing to move its new logistics center to Lyseparken Næringsområde.

Mayor of Bjørnafjorden, Terje Søviknes (Frp), is very happy about the agreement that is in the works. He warmly welcomes the 300 employees.

– I am very pleased that we are getting a large and solid actor for the municipality. We look forward to creating an efficient process for the construction itself, he says to BA.

The news comes just days after the State Administrator gave Posten the green light to build the postal terminal in Kokstad.

Posten: – Too big a risk

Posten Bring itself is aware that the long extra rounds of complaints are the reason why there will not be a postal terminal in Kokstad.

– If the processing time had not been so long, we would probably have started building in Kokstad a long time ago, says Edvard Nervik, property director at Posten Norge to BA.

The city council adopted the plan for a new post terminal in 2022, but in two rounds of complaints the Forum for nature and outdoor activities tried to have the decision invalidated.

The first time, their complaint led to the zoning plan being overturned, and the city council had to adopt it again. The second time the complaint was rejected.

Now, however, the nature conservation organizations have got what they wanted, in that Posten itself has chosen to drop the plans because time has run out.

Posten’s Nervik says that the long complaint process has meant that Posten has not started construction. At the same time, they now consider that there is too much uncertainty related to being able to establish themselves in Kokstad before the end of 2027.

Time crisis

In a press release, Posten writes that they have found themselves in a serious time-critical situation where they have had to look at other options.

“It has been absolutely necessary to avoid a serious failure in production and to ensure that we can continue to deliver quality to customers and safe workplaces in the future. Relocation from Dokken and Minde is also very important for urban development in Bergen,” the press release states.

– You just got the go-ahead from the State Administrator to build at Kokstad. Why are you turning now?

– Even though we got the go-ahead from the State Administrator, it is not the case that everything is resolved in Kokstad. There are traffic challenges and infrastructure that is not quite in place, says Nervik.

He is referring to the fact that, among other things, there will be a need for an intersection in Kokstadvegen to improve the flow of traffic when all Posten’s vehicles will enter the heavily trafficked area.

– The assessment is therefore that the process risk is greater in Kokstad than in Lyseparken, where the infrastructure is in place, he says.

– A declaration of bankruptcy

15 kilometers from Lyseparken, in Bergen, there is a worse atmosphere.

– This is a declaration of bankruptcy for Bergen as a commercial city. Now we are losing very important jobs, says Chris Jørgen Rødland Knudsen (H), who heads the urban development committee in the city council.

– When an actor like Posten gives up, you can only imagine how big the bureaucratic processes are for smaller companies, he adds.

Geir Steinar Dale (Ap) also sits on the urban development committee. He agrees that this is an obvious declaration of bankruptcy for the city. Today, he is disappointed on behalf of Bergen, the post office and the employees.

– The decision that Posten takes is wrong in every way. All arguments for getting the decision made and placing it on Kokstad fall to the ground, he believes.

Then he points out, among other things, that the new terminal in Lyseparken will create a more car-based facility, and refers to the employees and all the mail that will be transported in and out of the terminal. He believes that it will create significant challenges for the urban growth agreement.

The challenges Posten has presented at Kokstad, on the other hand, can be solved, according to Dale.

– So we will probably challenge this decision from an overall perspective on the matter.

That the workplaces are moved to one of the neighboring municipalities does not worry Ingrid Nergaard Fjeldstad (V), because Bergen and the neighboring municipalities must be seen as a unified region in this context.

– We must be generous with where the jobs go. And then we have to set up extra buses for the employees in Bergen who are going to work, she says and points to the increased traffic.

For the Left, it is the total nature interventions that are in focus.

– We must create smart development areas and encourage what means the least interference with nature. I hope that we have reached the point where we stop building out large industrial areas in nature, but rather in areas where there is already industry.

– A competition that must end

Fjeldstad hopes for a change when it comes to development in natural areas. So does Thor Haakon Bakke (MDG).

– That municipalities throughout Norway are competing to build down as much nature as possible as quickly as possible, for the same companies, is an environmentally and climate-hostile competition that must end. Unfortunately, the Conservative Party and FRP will continue this into eternity. Everyone loses out, both people who lose their outdoor areas, and animal and plant life, says Bakke.

Posten points to the rounds of complaints caused by the Forum for Nature and Outdoor Activities. The negative attitudes and demands of individual politicians are also partly to blame for Posten’s departure from the plans at Kokstad.

– If you are to get investments to Bergen, you depend on the politicians not creating uncertainty towards those who will make investment decisions, says Martin Virkesdal Jonsterhaug (Frp)