Lobsters neglected for the holiday season

A lack of wide-bodied cargo flights out of Halifax is worrying local seafood shippers. During the holiday season live lobster are in high demand in Europe but there has been a recent reduction in numbers of flights, such as Heathrow’s cut from seven to five a week, due to the high cost of fuel.

“It’s going to be a challenge to find air cargo capability to get lobster to our overseas markets,” said Denny Morrow of the Nova Scotia Fish Packers Association. Lobster dealers will instead have to use airports in the US and Canada but this will slash shelf life of the product due to the lobsters being sent to them by truck. “It adds to the difficult market issues that we already face this winter,” he added.

Halifax airport has started clearing land for a new multi-tenant cargo facility. The $12-million joint project with Gateway Facilities will result in a 40,000-square-foot cargo centre. Twenty per cent of that space will be refrigerated