Shipping times and costs from China to Norway

Shipping Container Costs to Norway

If you’re into stunning natural scenery, Norway is perfect for you. “The Land of the Midnight Sun” might have one of the most magnificent coastlines in the world, if not the most. The world-famous fjords run all the way down the Norwegian coast and there are more than a thousand of them. It’s a very green and blue affair. Sitting above the Arctic Circle, Norway deals with a pretty unique blend of lightness and darkness. In the summer there can be up to 20 hours of sunlight per day, but the winter can cast parts of the country in permanent darkness for months. The capital city of Oslo is a beautiful place to live, offering a unique combination of mountains, sea and urban buzz. If you want something a bit smaller, Bergen is a UNESCO City of Gastronomy (ooh) and Stavanger’s got a cracking cathedral. The Norwegians enjoy one of the best life expectancies in the world, so they’re in it for the long haul. Norway’s traditional food scene is also worth a mention, including smalahove (sheep’s head) and krumkake (paper-thin waffles).

Different shipping options

If you’ve decided that you want to move to Norway, you’ll probably have some belongings that you want to bring with you. To get them over there, you need to choose between sea freight and air freight. For speed of service you should choose air freight, but it comes at a much higher cost. On the other hand, sea freight is significantly slower but you’ll be paying much less. If you do go for sea freight, there are two container sizes available; 20ft and 40ft. You also need to decide if you want the use of a whole container or just a portion of it, which is called Less Than Container Load (LCL). Once you’re in touch with a shipping supplier, they’ll be able to help you with these decisions. We strongly recommend that you go for a door-to-door service, which most of our suppliers offer. It’s a bit more expensive but it’ll save you a lot of extra hassle.

Major shipping routes

You won’t be surprised to hear that Oslo is Norway’s largest shipping port, and there’s a beautiful fjord leading up to it. The southern port is ultimately the gateway to Norway, dealing with the majority of container ships that sail to the country. Its capacity was recently doubled in size and it can deal with a large variety of cargo. After Oslo, other large ports include Drammen (south), Bergen (south west) and Narvik (north west). If you’re shipping a car to Norway then it will probably go to Drammen, but otherwise you can expect your cargo to go to Oslo.

Norwegian customs

Once your container is in a Norwegian port, you just need to get it through customs and then you’re sorted. It’s very important that you don’t bring anything that’s prohibited or restricted, as this will incur hefty fines and might even prevent your shipment from getting through. See below to get a better idea of what isn’t allowed into Norway (although common sense applies). You need to create an inventory of everything inside your container, listing every object and stating whether it’s new or used. The clearer your list, the easier and quicker customs will be. You can avoid paying any duties or taxes on your household goods if a) you’ve lived abroad continuously for at least a year, b) everything is second hand and c) you are moving to live in Norway permanently (and use the belongings). All containers are subject to physical inspection, so it’s best to tell the truth in your inventory. You can check out the official Norway customs website here.