Lobster corridor – Canada to Europe
Aqualife containers from Canada are now bringing Canadian hard-shell lobsters into the European market – all Aqualife container capacity in Canada is sold until April 2010
The first commercial freights carrying live lobsters departed from Halifax, Nova Scotia for Rotterdam, Holland in early June with live hard-shell lobsters from Cape Breton. The lobsters are sourced and sorted by Louisbourg Seafoods Ltd and enter the European markets via the Fish Auction located in the Dutch town of Urk.
The new corridor has come to fruition through cooperation with the provincial government of Nova Scotia, the Halifax Port Authority, and a Halifax based cold storage and logistics company.
This is the first time producers can look towards the European markets without being concerned about the potential bottleneck air freight can afford.
Today, almost 15,000 tons of lobsters are air freighted to Europe from North America each year, equalling some 3,000 Aqualife container loads. The majority of this cargo goes through the US because the US holds the most developed air-freight infrastructure. Converting parts of this US trade to direct Canadian supplies will be one of the key objectives of the Aqualife project in Canada.
The objective will be to increase the present direct export to Europe from the 3,000 tons p.a. to 4,500 tons over the next 24 months. A dealer network is currently being set up across Europe; the lobsters are being distributed through leading dealers in Belgium, Holland and Denmark.
It is not only the more tangible commercial benefits that the corridor can offer the industry. By replacing airfreight with ocean freight, C02 emissions are reduced by 15 tons of CO2 per container.
“European consumers are increasingly reluctant to buy products with highs carbon foot prints, so this is a message we want the European trade and consumers to be aware of – and it leans well on the “green positioning” that Canadian products truly deserve”, says Lars Nannerup, CEO of Aqualife.
A campaign aimed at the European consumers and trade is being formulated at the moment by Canadian producers. The campaign is called THE DEEP BLUE, and it will be implemented across Europe over the forthcoming 12 months.
THE DEEP BLUE campaign shall pave the way for other North American shellfish; soon to follow the lobsters will be oysters and other species of bivalves.
