Page 64 - World Airnews Magazine November 2020

NEWS DIGITAL

FLYING LOBSTERS

t’s a bird. Mark Lane, executive director of the NAIA, told SaltWire, regular
No, it’s a plane. air freight service for seafood would help some aquaculture
I Carrying Newfoundland lobster to dinner tables in Asia. producers increase their presence in non-traditional markets like
At least that’s the hope, one that prompted the provincial Asia and Europe.
government to pay for a consultant to look at whether air cargo He cites oysters as an example, a seafood that holds after harvest
is a practical way to get live lobsters and other seafood from and can be shipped in wooden crates.
Newfoundland to the world Oysters from Placentia Bay could easily end up in a high-end
The province is putting up (US) $50,000 for the study, which restaurant in Hong Kong within three or four days of harvest
will assess the feasibility of air shipment of fish and seafood to thanks to air freight.
international markets, through the airport at Gander. Littlejohn is optimistic that the feasibility study will lead to
Francis Littlejohn of the Seafood Processors of Newfoundland regular flights of products from the island of Newfoundland to
and Labrador or SPONL said the idea is not new. consumers in Asia and Europe.
He said SPONL has held discussions with Gander International “It’s all about improving Newfoundland’s position in other
Airport Authority for the past two years to identify ways to ensure markets and letting people see what we produce here.”
seafood products from this province reach global markets. The study will also look at a solution to deal with ferry delays at
Several years ago, he said, the province had a “Fly Fresh” Port aux Basques.
program shipping live lobster and fresh cod fillets to Iceland. Currently, live lobster from this province is shipped by truck to
According to Littlejohn, a downturn in the Icelandic economy markets in Atlantic Canada and the United States.
sidelined that programme. Littlejohn said the general consensus is it takes 40 hours from the
“At the time we were using an (air cargo) carrier from Iceland. time it’s loaded onto a truck to final delivery to the market.
And then the Icelandic economy failed and everything went south A ferry-crossing delay of more than a day can create major
from there.” challenges, and potential losses, for the shipper, he said.
Littlejohn said if an air cargo option from Gander is proven to be “We’ve had cases where people have trucked the lobster across
feasible for seafood, other industries and producers could also be the island and, because of ferry delays, have had to truck it right
on board. back to the plant to wait for the next ferry crossing,” Littlejohn
With regular cargo flights into Asia and Europe, he said, there’d said.
be no reason to think companies making wines, liquors, jams or The study will determine the feasibility of cold storage facility
crafts, could take advantage of that shipping option to introduce at the Port aux Basques terminal to be used for storage when
their products to those markets. weather and other events delay ferry crossings.
“In order for this to fly - pardon the pun - we have to be attrac- Mussels are not the sorts of seafood that could easily be shipped
tive to the carriers,” he said. That means making sure cargo holds by air because they need to be packed in a lot of water, Lane said.
are full and not necessarily limited to seafood products. “A holding facility at Port aux Basques would “help maintain the
“We (SPONL) had intended to approach whatever industry in quality of the product for those times when Marine Atlantic might
the province felt they had products that could afford the freight. not sail,” he said.
Fish would certainly be the anchor (but) whatever products we The province is putting up $50,000 to fund the study and SPONL
could bring on board to help attract a carrier and have a regular, has hired PF Collins, Atlantis Aviation and Pisces Consulting to do
continuous service, that’s what we want to focus on.” the work.
Imagine a cargo plane with a belly full of fish, jams, spirits and A working group comprised of the Association of Seafood
even handmade crafts, and you get the basics of the idea. Producers (ASP), SPONL, Newfoundland Aquaculture Industry
Littlejohn said SPONL started this idea about two years ago with Association (NAIA), and officials from the Department of Fisheries,
the Gander Airport Authority and if COVID hadn’t happened, he Forestry and Agriculture are overseeing the project.
said, they would probably have been at the test flight phase right A final report is expected to be delivered to the department by
now. the end of this year. Q

World Airnews | November Extra 2020
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