Chinese company First Catch builds advanced lobster storage at Halifax airport
CBC
If ever there was proof lobster is king of Nova Scotia seafood, it's the new $36-million freight facility at Halifax Stanfield International Airport.
The Air Cargo Logistics Park that opened earlier this month is a big bet that will continue. It's doubling cold storage capacity and adding apron space to park five 747-sized cargo planes.
"It increases the efficiency, the capacity and the ability to actually move and export more product from Nova Scotia," said Marie Manning, Halifax International Airport Authority's business development manager.
"That benefits not only the airport, but certainly all of our stakeholders, the industry and the region itself. The economic impact is significant."
Seafood accounts for 91 per cent of exports from the airport — most of it live lobster.
Last year, 12,757 tonnes of live lobster worth $293 million was flown out of Halifax.
An anchor tenant in the new logistics park is First Catch, a Chinese company that came to Nova Scotia six years ago and is here for the long haul.
"We have a 25-year lease in the building," First Catch vice-president Lister Li told CBC News. "We want to work here in Halifax to make sure all our lobster has the best quality."
The company spent $9 million on its facilities at the Logistics Park, including a new cold storage room to hold shipments packed for flight.
The highlight is the so-called lobster shower.
It will allow First Catch to store about 40 tonnes of live lobster for extended periods, reducing mortality in case of flight delays or cancelled orders.
"We are trying to solve problems," said Li.
The industry reckons it has about 60 hours to get a live lobster from the water to its final destination or it must go into storage or be cooked.
At First Catch, live lobster can be unloaded and kept alive in plastic tubs under a cascade of water in a closed-circulation system which is the first of its kind in a Canadian airport.
CBC is once again looking to make the holiday season kind in Windsor-Essex.
Acute Care Alberta has extended its contract for another year with a private surgical facility at the centre of probes into health procurement and contracting.
As food bank use continues to climb across the province, front-line workers in Thunder Bay, Ont., are working to improve both food security and education.
More ads could soon be coming to Toronto’s subway system.
The driver wanted in connection with a fatal hit and run on Highway 401 earlier this week has been identified, police say.
There are mixed feelings about the proposed Grays Bay road and port project, among people who live in nearby communities.
WARNING: This story details allegations of child abuse and includes graphic content.
Provincial police in Lambton County have charged a 23-year-old man with second degree murder following a death investigation that began this past Saturday.
The Newfoundland and Labrador government is forming a working group to tackle what it calls systemic issues in the justice system, but answers or solutions could still be months away.
A woman has pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death in a 2024 fatal hit and run in Truro, N.S., where the victim was dragged down the street, a case that went unsolved for more than six months.
A stream of people showing up to a brightly lit front porch, each holding up a bottle of wine, spirits, or beer.
Sona Lakhoyan Olivier has been excluded from Quebec’s Liberal caucus for the duration of an investigation led by the National Assembly’s ethics commissioner, the party announced Thursday.
The head of the William Whyte Neighbourhood Association hopes a city plan to crack down on vacant properties leads to a transformation in his community.