in relation to the relatively large fishing fleet belonging to ålesund and nearby harbours a large shipbuilding and ship equipment industry has evolved. there are not any yards building ships in ålesund any more, the last shipyard - liaaen shipyard evolved into ship repairs and since late 1990s has mainly been serving the offshore industry through the company liaaen technology that merged and rebranded to strata møre in 2007. in the close by communities however shipyards continue to operate successfully: vard, ulstein verft, kleven maritime, havyard group.