Maersk Line has opened a route from Halifax in Nova Scotia to Rotterdam to meet growing demand for transport of live shellfish, Maersk and its partner Aqualife said.
Since 2005 Maersk Line, which belongs to Danish oil and shipping group A P Moller-Maersk, and Aqualife have been working together to develop patented transport systems for live seafood, reported Reuters.
Aqualife is the marketing and branding arm of the partnership, while Maersk Line provides the tanks, containers, vessels and global transport network. The partners hold the patents jointly.
"We see growing demand for this product," Thomas Eskesen, senior director of Maersk's refrigerated cargo business, said.
"It is a very exclusive product because the value of the lobster and crabs and mussels is high," he told Reuters. "Now is the right time to go for Halifax."
Aqualife said that the new route would give it a competitive advantage in its bid to woo transport of Canadian lobsters over to sea traffic from airfreight.
"It is possible to create a business based on the lobster corridor between Canada and Europe which over time can be worth hundreds of millions (of Danish crowns)," Aqualife said.
It said that North American lobster exports to Europe are worth around US$244.1 million annually.
Aqualife said that around 15,000 tonnes of live lobster are exported annually from North America to Europe, with about 3,400 tonnes of that total coming from Canada's Atlantic coast.
It said that lobster is eastern Canada's most important export item.
Aqualife said its business would get a boost when fresh foodstuffs in the French retail market are required from 2011 to be labelled with the product's carbon footprint, since sea transport involves lower carbon emissions than airfreight.
The Aqualife/Maersk transport unit consists of 20 water tanks in a refrigerated shipping container. "You can liken it to a small aquarium in a container," Eskesen said.
He said that shellfish are packed in ice for air transport.
"When we transport them, they remain in water so they are in their natural environment, if you like, through the transport," he said.
Since 2005 Maersk Line, which belongs to Danish oil and shipping group A P Moller-Maersk, and Aqualife have been working together to develop patented transport systems for live seafood, reported Reuters.
Aqualife is the marketing and branding arm of the partnership, while Maersk Line provides the tanks, containers, vessels and global transport network. The partners hold the patents jointly.
"We see growing demand for this product," Thomas Eskesen, senior director of Maersk's refrigerated cargo business, said.
"It is a very exclusive product because the value of the lobster and crabs and mussels is high," he told Reuters. "Now is the right time to go for Halifax."
Aqualife said that the new route would give it a competitive advantage in its bid to woo transport of Canadian lobsters over to sea traffic from airfreight.
"It is possible to create a business based on the lobster corridor between Canada and Europe which over time can be worth hundreds of millions (of Danish crowns)," Aqualife said.
It said that North American lobster exports to Europe are worth around US$244.1 million annually.
Aqualife said that around 15,000 tonnes of live lobster are exported annually from North America to Europe, with about 3,400 tonnes of that total coming from Canada's Atlantic coast.
It said that lobster is eastern Canada's most important export item.
Aqualife said its business would get a boost when fresh foodstuffs in the French retail market are required from 2011 to be labelled with the product's carbon footprint, since sea transport involves lower carbon emissions than airfreight.
The Aqualife/Maersk transport unit consists of 20 water tanks in a refrigerated shipping container. "You can liken it to a small aquarium in a container," Eskesen said.
He said that shellfish are packed in ice for air transport.
"When we transport them, they remain in water so they are in their natural environment, if you like, through the transport," he said.