page_title: Sisimiut
section_title: Industry and services
hierarchical_section_title: Sisimiut / Economy and infrastructure / Industry and services
caption_attribution_description: Street name sign in Sisimiut, Greenland.
context_page_description: Sisimiut, formerly known by its colonial name Holsteinsborg, is the capital and largest city of the Qeqqata municipality, the second-largest city in Greenland, and the largest arctic city in North America. It is located in central-western Greenland, on the coast of Davis Strait, approximately 320 km north of Nuuk.
  Although now the name of the city, Sisimiut literally means "the residents at the foxholes". The site has been inhabited for the last 4,500 years, first by the Inuit peoples of the Saqqaq culture, Dorset culture, and then the Thule people, whose descendants form the majority of the current population. Artifacts from the early settlement era can be found throughout the region, favored in the past for its plentiful fauna, particularly the marine mammals providing subsistence for the early hunting societies.
  The population of modern Greenlanders in Sisimiut is a mix of the Inuit and Danish peoples, who first settled in the area in the 1720s, under the leadership of the Danish missionary, Hans Egede.
  Today, Sisimiut is the largest business center north of the national capital of Nuuk and is one of the fastest growing cities in Greenland.
context_section_description: Fishing is the principal industry in Sisimiut, with harvested stocks of shrimps, salmon, halibut and cod. The Royal Greenland fish processing plant at the port is the largest within Greenland and is amongst the most modern shrimp-shelling factories in the world. In 2008, supplied by 8 boats and the factory trawlers, the plant processed an annual amount of 20,180 tons of shrimp, around 1,680 tons per month. This was roughly constant throughout the year, although when fish catches were larger the fish was frozen. The plant eventually sold around 6,019 tonnes of shrimp. Hunting is also important to some of the local livelihoods, mainly seals, walrus, beluga whale, narwhal, reindeer and muskoxen.
  KNI and its subsidiary Pilersuisoq, a state-owned chain of all-purpose general stores in Greenland, are based in Sisimiut. The Pilersuisoq chain operates in all small settlements in the country, as well as smaller towns which are not covered by supermarket chains. A range of shops operate in Sisimiut, from chain supermarkets of Pisiffik and Brugsen to independent outlets, also serving supplies to the smaller settlements in the region. Polaroil, a liquid fuel distribution company, is headquartered in Sisimiut. It employs 70 staff and operates 70 stations in Greenland. The headquarters were moved from Maniitsoq to Sisimiut in the late 2000s. In 2010 KNI announced plans to also move the operational base of Polaroil from Maniitsoq to Sisimiut, causing protests in the former community already experiencing depopulation. Other facilities include two banks, a library, a Post Greenland office and a small hospital/health center with 19 beds.
  There are advanced plans for the Alcoa aluminium smelting plant. Maniitsoq, the second-largest town in the municipality, is another proposed location alongside Sisimiut. The plant would provide employment for 600–700 people, or more than 10% of the population. As it is a vital decision for the town, wide public consultations were carried out in 2008–2010 by both the town authorities and the Government of Greenland in order to address potential environmental and social concerns. The Sisimiut Hydro Power Plant is located north of the town. The plant has two turbines providing 15 megawatts of power and the electricity from the plant is transferred to Sisimiut by a 27.4 km (17.0 mi) long high voltage line.
  Although rainfall is low, Sismiut has abundant natural supplies of fresh, drinkable surface water, collected from a reservoir under Alanngorsuaq. Water is also pumped to the waterworks from another lake around 2.5 kilometers away in the mountains. The water mains are preinsulated and electrically heated to supply the residents during the winter months. The water supply network is capable of producing some 882,000 cubic meters of water per year; two water-supplying lakes by the town have a combined annual minimum capacity of more than 7.2 million cubic meters.
caption: A street name sign in Greenlandic near the port.[Note 2]
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