Logistics
Seafood does not fail in the plant. It fails on a warm apron in a transit airport, in a reefer plugged in late, and in a document set that reaches the border two hours after the goods. Freight, temperature and paperwork are one problem, and we treat them as one.
Transport modes
The backbone of fresh seafood into Europe. One vehicle, one temperature setting, one driver responsible from loading bay to delivery — which is why it produces fewer temperature excursions than any other mode. The constraint is geography, not capability.
The only way to put fresh Norwegian seafood in Asia, the Gulf or North America inside its shelf life. The risk is not the flight; it is the ground time at transit, where product sits on an apron without active cooling. Coolant is specified for the worst-case transit, not the scheduled one.
The economics of frozen and cured volume. Set point, ventilation and pre-cooling are specified per product — a container set for chilled cargo will slowly ruin a frozen load, and the damage is not visible on arrival. We require the data logger download, not the driver’s word.
King crab in oxygenated boxes, with a survival window measured in hours. There is no partial failure here: a delay in customs or ground handling is a total loss, not a downgrade. Bookings are made with that asymmetry in mind and never on the cheapest routing.
Typical door-to-door transit as quoted by forwarders, counted from collection at the plant to delivery at the buyer’s address, including export handling and import clearance under normal conditions. Customs holds, inspection sampling and missed connections are not included. Last reviewed 15 September 2026.
The chain in practice
Incoterms 2020
An Incoterm decides where risk passes from seller to buyer. It is not a delivery service level and it does not say who pays for what beyond the listed obligations. Two offers on different Incoterms are not comparable until both are converted to the same one — which we do before you see them.
| Code | Term | Where risk passes | Mode |
|---|---|---|---|
| EXW | Ex Works | Buyer carries risk from the seller’s premises. | Any mode |
| FCA | Free Carrier | Risk passes when goods are handed to the buyer’s carrier. | Any mode |
| FAS | Free Alongside Ship | Risk passes alongside the vessel at the named port. | Sea and inland waterway |
| FOB | Free On Board | Risk passes once goods are on board the vessel. | Sea and inland waterway |
| CFR | Cost and Freight | Seller pays freight; risk still passes on board. | Sea and inland waterway |
| CIF | Cost, Insurance and Freight | As CFR, plus minimum cargo insurance by the seller. | Sea and inland waterway |
| CPT | Carriage Paid To | Seller pays carriage; risk passes at first carrier. | Any mode |
| CIP | Carriage and Insurance Paid To | As CPT, plus all-risks cargo insurance by the seller. | Any mode |
| DAP | Delivered At Place | Seller carries risk to the named destination, unloading excluded. | Any mode |
| DPU | Delivered At Place Unloaded | Seller carries risk through unloading at destination. | Any mode |
| DDP | Delivered Duty Paid | Seller carries risk, duty and import clearance. | Any mode |
Document set
A missing health certificate does not delay a container by a day; it holds it at the border until a replacement is issued from Norway, with demurrage running the whole time. The document set is complete before the goods move, and we check it rather than assume the supplier did.
Basis for customs value and payment.
Lot numbers, box count, net and gross weight.
Title and transport contract.
Issued by Mattilsynet per consignment.
Required for wild-caught seafood into the EU and others.
EUR.1 or origin declaration where a trade agreement applies.
Continuous record through the cold chain.
Microbiology, histamine or contaminants where required.
Temperature
0 – +2 °C
Fresh, chilled
On ice, unbroken. Every hour above +4 °C costs shelf life at the buyer’s end, not the seller’s.
−18 °C
Frozen, minimum
The legal floor. Adequate for whitefish over a normal transit, marginal for long storage.
−25 °C
Frozen, fatty species
Mackerel and herring oxidise at −18 °C over months. For these, −25 °C is a specification, not a preference.
