Oslo Airport's fish freight volumes are flying

Oslo Airport expects its seafood traffic to increase by around 50% in 2017 thanks to the addition of new freighter services.

The Norwegian Airport expects to handle a total of 90,000 tonnes of seafood as air cargo this year as freighter services flying directly to import markets have been added.

Previously, much of the seafood has been trucked to other major European airports before being flown to final destination.

In the last eight months, Emirates SkyCargo, AirBridgeCargo, Cargolux, Turkish Cargo, CAL and DHL have added Oslo Airport to their networks.

Martin Langaas, director of cargo at airport operator Avinor said: "Proactive work with the airfreight companies and co-operation with the seafood exporters have generated tangible results and an increase of 105% in available tonnage for the seafood industry out of Oslo Airport.

"This truly highlights the importance of Avinor’s work at providing the right conditions to enable Norway to achieve its seafood export targets to overseas markets."

The direct services, rather than transhipment, are "a must if we are to guarantee the quality of Norwegian seafood all the way to consumers in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and North America".

"It also ensures that Norwegian products are competitive,” he added.

There is significant global interest in Norway’s air cargo potential, as well as the expected growth within the Norwegian seafood export sector. We will continue to work towards improving conditions for exports and establishing more cargo routes for the Norwegian seafood industry in the future,” concluded Langaas.

The airport and exporters are considering adding a new dedicated seafood centre close to the airport to cater for the growth.