From Norway to China and a whole new world

In the middle of October, Trine Lindgren from Greencarrier Freight Services left Oslo for a new adventure in Ningbo, China. She will live and work at our office there for half a year. The office in Ningbo is one of our eight offices in China and it was opened in 2011. Now they are a team of 32 dedicated people and they recently moved to new and bigger premises. We recently had a talk with Trine about her thoughts and first impressions when she arrived in China.

What are your first impressions?

To arrive in Ningbo in the new office and get to meet all my new colleagues was a highly positive experience, I was warmly welcomed from the start and I felt like a part of the “family” right away. China, in general, is one of our biggest markets and a key focus area for Greencarrier. With Ningbo as one of the busiest ports in the world, I must say that this is an exciting city to experience and to work in. Ningbo is a beautiful city and with over 6 million inhabitants in total, it is still called a small town in China. The city is in constant change, for example came the first subway in 2014.

In addition to that, they have the past few years gotten better infrastructure, they build new areas to expand the city and it’s getting more and more popular to establish international companies there.

What do you like the most about Ningbo so far?

What I like most about the city is that it’s very local but as well more international than I expected. When you first start to understand the culture and how things work you found that it is a very convenient and good place to live. Not everyone around in Ningbo speaks English, but there are plenty of people who are willing to try and you can always find someone on the street to help.

Also, the food here is amazing, very unique and there are a lot of specialties you have to try out when you’re here. Let me say it like this, it’s not possible to compare the Chinese food in Norway to the real local food here in China.

How long have you been working in Greencarrier and with what?

Greencarrier and I started our relationship 4.5 years ago, when I started as a trainee with ocean freight in 2013 in Oslo. Since then, I have worked with both air freight and road freight and is currently working as a sales assistant for the Ningbo office as well as being an ocean freight coordinator for Norway. The cooperation between China and Norway can sometimes be challenging, not only because of the time differences but also because of our different ways of working. I hope that this can contribute to creating a stronger bond and getting a better shared understanding.

Read the full article here to find out more about Trine's journey!