News

From the fishermen’s pier to the airport, hectic is the only way to describe the day when tonnes of lobster traditionally begin their transatlantic journey to destinations in Europe and Asia from Nova Scotia, Atlantic Canada.

Wednesday 21st marked the last day before Christmas that Atlantic Canadian lobster could be flown overseas, where it is a traditional and celebrated delicacy that thousands of families splurge on annually.

The Gateway Facilities Inc. refrigerated air freight forwarding facility at Halifax Stanfield International Airport welcomed two cargo jets — a TNT Express Boeing 747 and an Icelandair Boeing 757 — awaiting 75-tonne and 35-tonne loads, respectively.

TNT Express operates a scheduled service at the airport every Saturday but the stop Wednesday afternoon was strictly to pick up lobster trucked in from across the region. The lobster will reach markets in Europe and Asia within 48 hours, just in time for last-minute Christmas shopping.

“You can’t get much fresher lobster than through a facility like that,” Jerry Staples, the airport’s vice-president of marketing and business development, said Wednesday. “This is a long-standing tradition that we have extra flights at Christmastime, and it’s the European appetite for our wonderful lobster that drives the market.”

Despite the economic chaos in Europe, the appetite for Canadian lobster is a tradition that overseas buyers won’t give up, said Michael Wolthers of Kintetsu World Express Inc.

“Sales and the demand in Europe are just as good this year as last year, for sure,” Wolthers said, adding that his company is on track to ship another 700 tonnes of lobster this season.

The Canadian crustaceans have also piqued the interest of Asian consumers, especially in China and Korea, and orders from those countries are more than making up for dwindling exports to the U.S.

“Last year, between all of us, there were 35 and 40 tonnes shipped to Asia, and this year we’ll be in around 70 tonnes,” Wolthers said.

The lobster will be flown to Belgium and then distributed throughout the Netherlands, Germany and southern France.

When reached Wednesday morning, another broker who typically moves about 200 tonnes of lobster in December was busy preparing a 17-tonne shipment for markets in Belgium, the Netherlands, Asian points including Dubai and Korea, and Las Vegas and Western Canada.

The broker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said sales ramp up to as much as six times normal volumes in the two weeks before Christmas. Some employees started their day Wednesday at 5 a.m., and although the busiest day of the season has now passed, he said the frenzied pace will continue until January. Then everything shifts into a lower gear.

Normally, about 300 tonnes of lobster is flown out of Nova Scotia each week during the last three weeks of December. Lobster from Atlantic Canada account for 55 per cent of the worldwide market, according to a report prepared last year for the Lobster Council of Canada.