Western Norway is known as being particularly dense with fjords, you can also see the natural wonders in certain other regions of the country.

As well as getting up close and personal with these awe-inspiring sights, you may also want to enjoy the cultural attractions that can be found in Fjord Norway’s various towns.

These include Alesund in Sunnmore – which boasts beautiful architecture, a huge aquarium and some interesting museums – as well as Tromso, which is surrounded by mountains, and Bergen, the medieval gateway to the fjord region.

Visitors may also want to head to the North Cape for more amazing scenery and the chance to see the most northernmost village in the world.

However, if your main focus is the fjords, then make sure you take in Geirangerfjord and Naeroyfjord first.

Located in south-west Norway to the north-east of Bergen, these fjords are particularly high and steep – their rock walls measure as much as 1,400 metres in height and extend below sea level for about 500m.

It should be easy enough to see both fjords in the same cruise holiday, as they are situated 120km apart.

Some of the sights travellers can take in when visiting these fjords include huge waterfalls, glacial lakes, deciduous and coniferous forests, craggy mountains and a range of native land-based and marine animals.

If you decide to visit Fjord Norway via a cruise, you will find that the experience is unlike other sea voyages as you remain in sight of land for most of the time – giving you a huge opportunity to take in the country’s gorgeous natural landscape whenever you head to the deck.

With a rich Viking past, wonderful food and a superb arts and culture scene, Norway could be the perfect cruise destination for anyone looking for a holiday to remember.

Norway is fortunate in that is in a strong economic position and is one of the world’s richest countries per head. Norway has large foreign trade surpluses due to the high cost of oil in recent times. This is enabling the government to invest in developing new industries to support its strategy of diversification.

The Norwegian government is thus able to help support the freight services sector as it faces the challenge of adapting to new conditions.

One of the private sector industries that is robust and growing in Norway in shipping. Shipping companies originally developed in Norway to serve the offshore petrolem industry and have now achieved a dominant market position. In fact, the shipping fleet in Norway is one of the most modern in the world.
Shipping and freight services has therefore been identified as an industry to be further developed and strengthened in future, as a key part of the Norwegian economy.

As shipping companies face the new challenges, the sector is showing innovation as shipping companies identify and seize new opportunities that are relevant for the post petroleum era.

For example, the Norwegian freight company sector is set to break new ground with the launch of the world’s first gas-powered ro-ro vessels. Norwegian shipping company Sea-Cargo AS is building the vessels and they are expected to be launched by 2010. With the focus on lower exhaust emissions from short sea and coastal vessels, Sea Cargo AS identified liquified natural gas as the fuel of the future. These vessels will reduce CO2 emissions by 25% compared with a vessel run on conventional fuel.

Another way in which the freight transport sector is facing the challenge of new opportunities is exploiting new markets, created by changing economic conditions. An especially important area of opportunity for shipping companies in Norway is the Baltic Sea Region.

Norway, like its neighbour Finland, has a significant role to play in serving the Baltic region. Although the global economic crisis is having a negative impact on freight forwarding in many countries worldwide, international freight to and from the Baltics remains a growth area. The majority of shipping companies and economic commentators are expecting growth in the Baltic region to continue to be strong in the next few years. This will strengthen the freight services sector in those countries like Norway and Finland on which freight transport to the Baltic region depends.

The Baltic Region is now a main trading area for the freight forwarding and shipping company industry based in Bergen. They offer a frequent service to the Baltic Region, mainly with its fleet of side door vessels.The main item requiring freight transport is frozen fish from Norway, Scotland and Iceland. This is transported to many destinations in the Baltic Region. This is an expanding market, with an increasing demand for fish products as the buying power of cuustomers increases in the countries that make up the Baltic Region.

In ways such as these, shipping companies in Norway are showing that they can identify and seize the new opportunities created by changing market conditions. This means that the freight forwarding and international freight industry in Norway face a bright future as they rise to the challenge of responding to change.