The new ‘aquaport’ in Urk in the Netherlands is now regularly receiving commercial shipments of live lobsters from Halifax in Nova Scotia. The first consignment arrived on 21 May, and they have been coming in weekly ever since.
These Canadian lobsters are held in a state of semi-hibernation in special tanks created by Promens, and the tanks are transported across the Atlantic in 40ft reefer containers adapted for this use by Maersk.
This ocean freight system was developed by Aqualife of Denmark (World Fishing September 2009), which has gone to great lengths to control any potential contamination.
The lobsters are purged in either the Aqualife collection terminal, or an external fish pound in Nova Scotia, said Maja Wall, marketing director. “During this process all access protein materials are removed and the product is purified. It is assured that the shellfish will not contaminate water during transport causing the development of toxic components such as ammonia.”
Furthermore, the lobsters are held onboard in a closed compartmentalised environment where there is no risk of cross contamination, she added, and any remaining pathogens are removed during the journey by several state-of-the-art filtration systems.
Upon arrival at the shellfish receiving and holding facility, or aquaport, all the water in which the shellfish are transported is collected in a special wastewater silo where it is sterilised before being reused in the system. It is claimed that the state-of-the-art technology employed at the facility eliminates the risk of spreading disease and prohibits the invasion of foreign species.
The facility is capable of receiving up to 25 Aqualife containers per week and holding 50 tonnes of live shellfish. Its systems are computer controlled and can be managed through internet connection from remote locations.
The first customer to use the new freight corridor between Nova Scotia and the Netherlands, is the British based Homarus Atlantic Ltd. It is selling the lobsters to customers in France where many leading retailers are no longer carrying air freighted products.
Jean-Marc Stephan, managing director of Homarus Atlantic, said the company is very pleased with the operation. “I must say that we have been pleasantly surprised by the quality of the lobsters we have taken out of the aquaport in Holland. Our clients in France are over the moon!
“Apart for some minor operational challenges in the beginning, we have come off to a great start. Mortality levels during transport are well below 1%, and the lobsters are very strong.”
Now that the shellfish facility at Urk is fully operational, Aqualife is aiming to establish aquaports in North america. “Our aim is to consolidate this first corridor between Canada and Europe before moving on to opening new corridors,” said Gordon Neal, CEO of Aqualife North America.
“We still have a lot to learn, but we are increasingly inspired by the demand we are seeing across both international and domestic markets. Later this year we will be completing the first North American aquaport near Halifax.
“We aim to build a network of aquaports in North America from where we can provide freight services both domestically and between continents,” said Neal.
