Freight Forwarding in Norway
Norway’s economy is highly dependent on its offshore petroleum industry, centred around Stavanger and a vibrant freight services and shipping infrastructure has been established to support the continued growth of this industry
Norway’s high level of oil and gas exports and its extremely robust capital reserves, which are again amongst the highest in the world in per capita terms, make it likely that Norway will continue to be one of the wealthiest countries in the world for at least the short and medium term. This bodes well for continued investment in the freight services sector, which in turn is good news for every shipping company and freight company that operates in Norway.
The cost of living is about 30% higher in Norway than in America and the standard of living is one of the highest in the world. These are amongst the factors that led Foreign Policy Magazine in 2009 to judge Norway to be the best functioning and most stable country in the world – a quite remarkable accolade!
The country has achieved this enviable situation partly because Norway has been blessed with natural resources, including oil, natural gas, fish, forestry and minerals, which are particularly high in relation to the small size of the population. In fact, fish have been exported from Lofoten for over 1000 years.The freight services industry has developed and strengthened over the long term to become the model of efficiency it is today. Meanwhile, export revenues from oil and gas make up 45% of total exports and account for 20% of GDP. So shipping companies and freight services have geared up to handle the specific needs of these industries in terms of storage conditions and handling, as well as the more general freight forwarding needs of some other sectors.
This abundance of natural resources and the income they generate for Norway has led to a situation where the hourly productivity levels as well as average hourly wages in Norway are among the highest in the world.
Norway has stayed outside the European Union, following referendums in 1972 and 1994, but together with Liechtenstein and Iceland, it takes part through the European Economic Area agreement and other inter-governmental agreements between the EU member states. This means that Norway is integrated with the EU internal market in the main and freight transport too has benefited as a result of co-operation across borders with other European countries.
As a result of the winning combination of factors, some of which are outlined here, The Norwegian trade surplus for 2008 was around 80 billion dollars, so Norway is well cushioned against the effects of the global financial crisis and in fact it was the only Western country to run a state budget surplus in 2009. Overall, it is one of the countries in the world to be least affected by the worldwide downturn in 2008 and 2009 and unemployment in Norway is still running at under 4%.
So the freight transport sector in Norway can face the future with confidence, as the economy is in good shape and there is likely to be continued substantial government investment in the international freight infrastructure and the industries which it serves.
Tags: Norway Business, Norway News, Norway Travel