WEEKLY NEWS


160 TONNES OF LOBSTER FLY INTO EUROPE FOR THE HOLIDAYS VIA LIEGE


BY Edward HARDY 02


AS the festive season drives up demand for fresh seafood across Europe, Liege Airport has once again seen a sharp uptick in live lob- ster shipments - with Swissport playing a key role in the high-stakes operation to keep the product alive and compliant under tight time constraints. Over two holiday weekends, four dedicated flights arrived at Liege


carrying a combined total of approximately 160 tonnes of live lobsters. The uplift included two regular weekly shipments and two additional flights scheduled to meet seasonal demand. Each aircraft carried around 40 tonnes of cargo originating from Halifax, Canada.


"Lobster shipments arrive at LGG on a weekly basis throughout the


year. During the holiday season, one additional flight per week was scheduled over a two-week period. This means that over the two hol- iday weekends, a total of four flights arrived — two regular weekly flights and two additional flights. Each flight carries approximately 40 tonnes of lobsters, resulting in a combined total of around 160 tonnes delivered over the period. " Timing and temperature control are everything when transporting


live animals by air. At Liege, Swissport handles the airside transfer and immediate movement to inspection. “On arrival, lobster shipments are transferred directly from the air- craft to the airport inspection centre for immediate breakdown and


checks,” said Dirk Goovaerts, CEO Continental Europe, Middle East, Africa, India & Global Cargo Chair at Swissport. “This efficient process minimises time outside temperature-controlled environments and helps protect product integrity and compliance requirements.” Coordination begins even before the aircraft touches down. Accord-


ing to Goovaerts, “Cargojet provides a pre-alert at departure, which allows our airside team and the airport inspection centre to prepare in advance. This early coordination ensures the shipment can move directly from aircraft to inspection with minimal delay.” While full data for this season isn’t yet available, Swissport expects


lobster volumes to remain strong. “Market data indicates that volumes of lobsters transported by air into Europe remain robust, with predict- able seasonal peaks around key festive periods,” Goovaerts said. He pointed to continued consumer appetite and the critical role of


Did You Know ? DEATH OR RE-BIRTH OF THE POST OFFICE BY Michael SALES


ON 30th December 2025, PostNord, the state- owned Danish postal service, after 400 years, ends its collection and delivery of letters entirely. Denmark will be the first European country to do so. “The letters market is no longer profitable,” according to Kim Pedersen, PostNord’s chief executive. The fewer that are sent, the higher the unit cost of handling them. The red post boxes with the Danish crown have stood in the country’s streets since the mid- 1800s, but sadly, no longer. For the past 25 years, the number of letters


has dropped by 90 percent. Post offices globally have experienced a similar decline in the volume of letters, as email, text messages, and social-networking sites have taken over; they are quicker, cheaper, and require less effort. The Covid-19 pandemic restrictions


promoted texting and social media. In contrast, the rapid rise in online commerce generated huge volumes of parcels in the hands of giant private operators such as Amazon and Shein, and the number of parcels continues to grow fast. Global parcel volumes continued to grow in 2024, driven by e-commerce, with major players like Geopost exceeding 2.1 billion parcels and InPost reaching over one billion; although, due to intense competition, revenue was less impressive. Some


post offices have themselves. Privatised services, such


reinvented as


those in Malta and Portugal, are generally in better shape than state-run ones. Italy’s partly privatised Poste Italiane has had a good run under Matteo Del Fante, an ex-banker. Germany’s Deutsche Post DHL Group, a


listed company whose biggest shareholder is Germany’s state-owned development bank,


is also profitable, and was voted the world’s best postal service alongside Switzerland in 2024. Many state-owned carriers, meanwhile, are suffering. On 3rd November, the loss- making Greek post office closed 204 of its 456 branches. That caused a nationwide outcry, with opposition politicians arguing that it is vital for social cohesion and for reaching elderly Greeks in remote areas. The United States Postal Service (USPS) serves the world’s largest single market: North America accounts for 37 percent of global postal revenue. Mail and postal services have been a vital


component of air cargo since the very first flight on 18th February 1911, in India, when Henri Pequet flew the first official airmail, a short hop with 6,500 letters during a major festival. Today, when considering


all the


volumes of e-commerce and overseas post, this is still the backbone of the industry.


ACW 26 JANUARY 2026 www.aircargoweek.com


airfreight in moving high-value, temperature-sensitive seafood across continents. “Market fundamentals point to lobsters remaining a resil- ient and important air cargo flow during peak periods.”


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