Hi all,
I am seeking information about driving for Norweigan companies. I have 10 years continental experience and have always loved doing the occassional trip to Norway, Sweden and Finland. Has anybody on here driven for Norweigan companies? How difficult or easy is it to get a job there? What is the pay like?, etc.
Thanks in advance.
Stateline:
I am seeking information about driving for Norweigan companies.
Hi Stateline, 
Maybe you could try a PM to our member Martin Benjamins, cos IIRC, Martin and his family emigrated to Norway.
As you may know, Norway isn’t an EU country, so you may need to check for info about residency/work permits and other paperwork.
I hope that helps.
BTW, from my driving days, I seem to remember a company (maybe green livery?) with the same name as your username.
Hi Stateline.I have a few colleagues from Holland,Belgium and the U.K who work for Norwegian companies.Most of them have found it easier to move complete’ly to Norway and make a new start there.
Choose your area carefully as Norway,like Sweden and Finland is quite large and you have a lot of differences in working practices.I worked for a company from Oslo and also from Tromso and they were very different.Also it can make a great difference to your standard and quality of life where you live.
Maybe it is an idea to take a little holiday time and visit companies in your chosen area.that way you get an idea of what is on offer and what the area is like.Remember the winters are long so the driving is harder.
Where i live in Lappland it is still min 10c and we are expecting about 10cms of snow this weekend 
It’s not so hard to move to Norway.The people are helpful.The bureaucracy is a little more complex than in Sweden as it is not EU.
It is perhaps easier to move to Norway or Sweden as the language is easier to learn than Finnish,and especially in the North,you have more possibil’ity to find people to speak Engish to help smooth the way.
Take care.Mike
Isn’t there an English guy on here driving a tanker in Norway for a UK company?
Here we are, try this fella!
Diesel Dave, yes there was a fridge outfit called Stateline back in the 70’s, 80’s and early 90’s. Wine coloured trucks with some black and white also. Thanks for the info, I will PM Martin. I seem to recall an article in T&D roughly 6 or 7 years ago about a guy who moved up to Norway, Swedish wife and driving red Volvo’s.
Hutpik and Wheelnut, thanks for the information. I have been thinking about a holiday up there as a way of information gathering, its often the best way. I am used to the long distance work so would fancy silmilar work in Norway, perhaps into Finland etc. Then again, might be easier said than done!
Stateline:
Diesel Dave, yes there was a fridge outfit called Stateline back in the 70’s, 80’s and early 90’s. Wine coloured trucks with some black and white also.
Hi Stateline, I must have got my liveries a bit mixed-up with the passage of time. 
Having seen your answer and thought about it a bit, was it Sheertrans that had a green livery?
Stateline:
Thanks for the info, I will PM Martin. I seem to recall an article in T&D roughly 6 or 7 years ago about a guy who moved up to Norway, Swedish wife and driving red Volvo’s.
IIRC from posts on here or clicking through to Martin’s excellent photo-website, Martin is originally from NL, so the T&D article might be about a different guy.
Did Stateline get taken over by P&O or was it East West/Balvessy Holdings? I seem to remember Carna pulling their trailers and vice versa at some point too 
I remember the motors, unusally for an Irish firm, they always had it lit
I wonder how Norway has fared with the EE invasion, internally I doubt it’s had an effect, but internationally it may have, although the Norwegians were never very big in European work, I know they went far and wide, but there weren’t that many of them, still from I’ve seen they have a very nice standard of living in all of Scandinavia, except a few big Swedish Cities anyway, so it looks like it’s worth looking in to 
newmercman:
I wonder how Norway has fared with the EE invasion,
Hi NMM,
I’d wondered about that too, but then I thought that Norway could have its own ideas about lots of things (including immigration policy) because they aren’t in the EU.
newmercman:
… the Norwegians were never very big in European work, I know they went far and wide, but there weren’t that many of them, …
The only one I can instantly remember (without injuring too many brain cells ) is a 'fridge firm called Sties, mostly W&Ds with a white cab/body but IIRC, there was also some pale blue colour included in their livery.
Yeah the Norwegians decided to use their oil money for their benefit and didn’t invite every Tom, ■■■■ and Harry to pick their pockets!
DD, Sties are the one I remember, two tone with red signwriting, there was also some press coverage about running Prawns down from Norway to Nth Africa to be peeled and bagged, then sent back up north to be sold, pretty sure it was Norway, but I seem to remember a MAN unit and the Scandinavians love their Volvo and Scania, so it may have been a Dutch firm, the Prawns were Norwegian though…I think 
newmercman:
DD, Sties are the one I remember, two tone with red signwriting, there was also some press coverage about running Prawns down from Norway to Nth Africa to be peeled and bagged, then sent back up north to be sold, pretty sure it was Norway, but I seem to remember a MAN unit and the Scandinavians love their Volvo and Scania, so it may have been a Dutch firm, the Prawns were Norwegian though…I think
Hi NMM,
I’d not heard of the Nth Africa job, but I did see Sties quite regularly around Milan.
Here’s a link to Sties History which seems to say that the livery we’re talking about first appeared in 1984. Although I first started doing Italy trips a couple of years before that, I don’t remember the old livery.
Hi all. In the last few years Sties were sold to Norcargo which in turn was taken over by Norsk Post which has now been taken into the umbrella group of Deutsche post[DHL].A lot of the trucks still run in the old blue and white colours[fridges].
As NMM said Norway has a very good standard of living being the richest country in the world,per capita however it is quite expensive to live in,especially compared to Sweden.
In the last few years they also have had the problem of '‘cheap imports’'labour wise from the east block.It’s not quite as bad as the rest of Europe but it is there. 
There have also been quite a few brits working for Norwegian companies on the ''self employed ''system.
Quite a lot of Dutch guys have gone to work for Norwegian companies.Mike
newmercman:
DD, Sties are the one I remember, two tone with red signwriting, there was also some press coverage about running Prawns down from Norway to Nth Africa to be peeled and bagged, then sent back up north to be sold, pretty sure it was Norway, but I seem to remember a MAN unit and the Scandinavians love their Volvo and Scania, so it may have been a Dutch firm, the Prawns were Norwegian though…I think
Maybe you are thinkink of Heiploeg, the Dutch outfit?
hutpik:
Hi all. In the last few years Sties were sold to Norcargo which in turn was taken over by Norsk Post which has now been taken into the umbrella group of Deutsche post[DHL].A lot of the trucks still run in the old blue and white colours[fridges].
As NMM said Norway has a very good standard of living being the richest country in the world,per capita however it is quite expensive to live in,especially compared to Sweden.
In the last few years they also have had the problem of '‘cheap imports’'labour wise from the east block.It’s not quite as bad as the rest of Europe but it is there.
There have also been quite a few brits working for Norwegian companies on the ''self employed ''system.
Quite a lot of Dutch guys have gone to work for Norwegian companies.Mike
Mike, I have a few questions for you if you don’t mind…
I recall being parked up in a big truckstop out the Oslo road in Gotenborg one weekend a few years back (the Sties centre perhaps?) and noticing quite a few Eastern European drivers at the helm of Swedish trucks. Is this the case in Norway also? What are the pro’s and con’s of Norway versus Sweden (driving jobs)?
Seeing as Norway are not in the EU, am I correct is saying they are not obliged to follow EU driving regulations?
Is BRING now the new face of NorCargo?
Cheers!
newmercman:
DD, Sties are the one I remember, two tone with red signwriting, there was also some press coverage about running Prawns down from Norway to Nth Africa to be peeled and bagged, then sent back up north to be sold, pretty sure it was Norway, but I seem to remember a MAN unit and the Scandinavians love their Volvo and Scania, so it may have been a Dutch firm, the Prawns were Norwegian though…I think
Hieplog used to do Holland & that part of Europe to Tangiers in blue & white Scanias prawns down peeled then shipped back up the way, I think they had 1 or 2 loads back out of every four & even took the shells & guts back for flavourings! They only used to go in as far as Tangiers free port.
I do remember Stateline too always tatty IIRC dirty red & white stripe with it written in black. Fading brain, did’nt they used to do a lot of Italy??
Hi Stateline.Ithink that you will find east block drivers wherever you go.First they are cheaper because most firms pay them less or fiddle the money they are supposed to be paid.An example is in Holland you have a sliding scale of salary from E1 to E6 depending on expierience,age etc.From the bottom to the top this can mean a difference per month of up to €1000 so you know that the companies will try to find ways to keep you in the low scale. 
In Norway the same thing happens to foreign drivers.Being non E.U.it can be easier to pay a little more ‘‘flexible’’.Some guys i know worked on a '‘self employed’‘basis.This means you get good money because no social premiums are paid,this is your responsibility so you know what happens,’‘fill your pockets and 
tomorrow.Be warned,in this situation if you are unemployed you get sod all.
If you emigrate and do it all correct you get all the benifits as would a norgwegian.
Both countries have plus and minus points.Both are good to wok and live in.
I chose to move to Sweden after living for many years in Holland.I worked for the last 10 years for Pilkington in Holland driving all over Europe with emphasis on North Norway and Sweden in the winter as not many guys wanted it due to the cold and snow.Ipersonally like the winters and over 35 years have driven in Russia,M.e. Scaninavia and Canada so don’t have a problem with winters.
I choose Lappland because the life is more relaxed here due to the fact that it is so far away from ‘‘civilisation’’ and they live a little more old fashioned up here.Also there is quite a bit of work due to the vast amount of mining up here and a shortage of people.
Being EU it is easy to move here and get work papers[everyone needs a work permit even if you are in the EU]
I bought my house in the forest for €25000 and had all the papers sorted within 4 days,everyone was very helpful.
I work for a small company driving in the mine in gällivare about 1km underground.
I work 7days x 10hrs then have 7 days free.I clear about €2200 per month so i’m happy.
The choise is yours.Like i said take a holiday and go look round.If you want to know more contact me.I’'l help with what little i know.Both countries are good to live in.You will have to change your mentality a bit.
If i can help more contact me.Mike
fly sheet:
newmercman:
DD, Sties are the one I remember, two tone with red signwriting, there was also some press coverage about running Prawns down from Norway to Nth Africa to be peeled and bagged, then sent back up north to be sold, pretty sure it was Norway, but I seem to remember a MAN unit and the Scandinavians love their Volvo and Scania, so it may have been a Dutch firm, the Prawns were Norwegian though…I thinkHieplog used to do Holland & that part of Europe to Tangiers in blue & white Scanias prawns down peeled then shipped back up the way, I think they had 1 or 2 loads back out of every four & even took the shells & guts back for flavourings! They only used to go in as far as Tangiers free port.
I do remember Stateline too always tatty IIRC dirty red & white stripe with it written in black. Fading brain, did’nt they used to do a lot of Italy??
Right on both counts Coop, Stateline did a lot of Italy, that’s where I used to see them and Heiploeg (sp) were the mob that did the Prawns, I assumed they were Norwegian Prawns, it would make sense to land them in Holland so that the land part of their journey was shorter, Heiploeg had a blue and white livery similar to Sties, hence my mention of them
I’m 99% sure Heiplog had an MAN in the UK too NMM, thats probably the 1 you saw it was UK reg IIRC, most of them you’ll have seen over the water where Scanias, decent bunch of lads too as far as I recall had a scoop or two with them in Algeciras but thats a long time back. They could work though, in fact Heiplog & Stateline had the same idea work like a ■■■■■■■ then get twisted
As for the Norwegians its one country I’ve never been but whenever I’ve been around them as drivers they’ve been a decent bunch. I bought an ex Norwegian lorry in Denmark some years back & had murders getting it registered & if it was’nt for the kindness & profesionalism of the Norwegian DVLA it would still be sat in the yard rotting for the worth of our DVLA who are a bunch of rhymes with hunts.
Good luck to you Stateline I hope you find a job up there with The Vikings.
Some great photos of the mines up there in gällivare from this guys collection…
static.panoramio.com/photos/orig … 384123.jpg
The photographer might eve work there, do you now him?
Hi all\ Mickfly. excellent pics.The first few are of the large open cast copper mine at the AITIK company about 15 south of Gällivare.the ‘‘big beasties’’ load about 200ton per load.
There are two distinct mines in Gällivare.AITIK which produces copper ore and LKAB in Malmberget which is a suburb of Gällivare and is the original village which is the reason for the existence of Gällivare.Malmberget means ''iron mountain.and the mine is an underground iron ore mine which goes to a depth of app 1400m and spreads for about 60kms underground.The ore is of very high quality and is in high demand all over the world.LKAB also have mines in Kiruna,Svappesvaara,and Kaunisvaara,all in Swedish Lappland.
The ore is loaded on trains and transported to Luleå Sweden and Narvik Norway for loading on ships.
The copper ore from AITIK is loaded both on trains and trucks for transporting to Luleå and Skellefteå for processing.
The photographer was a Dutchman who was here in February with an International hot air balloon festival organised by the Lappland tourist organisation.They were here for about 10 days.There were more than 100 balloons with people from all over Europe and U.S.A,Canada,Japan and South America.
I spent one week in Gällivare working for the tourist office as a translator.[great fun].They had one of the coldest weeks of the winter with temps between min30 and min 42c
The pictures of the ice sculptures were taken at the world famous ‘‘ice hotel’’ at Jukkasjärvi near to Kiruna which is open from about November until April when it melts. Mike