Lots of different classes of commercial goods, from gym equipment to automotive spares, can be palletised today making this method of shipping one that is popular all over the world. This includes Norway where palletised goods are the norm for almost all commercial shipments except for heavy cargo. Therefore, British firms that are sending goods to the country will often be served best by palletising them prior to being picked up. Most pallet sizes can be handled by Norwegian goods-in departments but Euro pallets are the norm so use these if you have them.
In terms of how to have your pallet freight sent to Norway, the most obvious thing to do is to make use of the services of a freight forwarding firm. Although there is nothing to stop you from hiring a van and driving it to Norway yourself, it is often much cheaper to turn to professionals. Good freight forwarders will negotiate with hauliers and couriers all the time, thereby offering export firms more competitive rates than they’d be able to achieve themselves. Furthermore, some freight forwarders can arrange groupage shipments which means pallet to Norway are grouped together with the logistical costs for shipping them being shared.
That’s just as well considering that there is no direct ferry route between the British Isles and Norway. In other words, palletised goods will need to access a roll-on/roll-off ferry on the South Coast and be driven to Norway from Calais or Dunkirk. There is another alternative, however, which would mean accessing a ferry from Harwich bound for Esbjerg in Denmark. Either way, the route to Norway that makes the most sense involves driving on Danish motorways to the country’s far north. The Danish port town of Frederikshavn provides frequent crossings over the Baltic Sea to Oslo, the Norwegian capital. Equally, Hirtshals at the tip of the Jutland peninsula has almost daily sailings to various ports in Norway including Larvik, Stavanger and Kristiansand, for example.
Deciding which route to take will usually mean thinking about the onward journey and how much rest the driver will need to build into his or her itinerary. However, according to Barrington Freight which organises such services from the UK to Norway, two-driver teams are also an option for the most urgent deliveries. Under such circumstances, courier vans will convey one or more pallets by road from northern France to Copenhagen via the E20 trunk route. From the Danish capital, Malmö in Sweden can be accessed by road quite easily. The onward journey to the Norwegian border from there usually takes no more than five hours under favourable traffic conditions.
Please bear in mind that all British goods entering the EU will need to be properly declared before they get there. However, Norway is not in the EU so palletised goods will also be checked by customs officials when they arrive in the country whether it is by road or via a ferry. This complicates matters somewhat so it is often beneficial to turn to a professional customs clearance broker, ideally one that also provides freight forwarding services so you can combine the two aspects of sending pallets to Norway under one roof.
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