Seafood exporters facing huge routing problems as Middle East war rages

The region is not only an important market for Norwegian seafood in particular, but it is also a transit route for shipments to the Far East.

Most commercial flights to and from the Gulf are currently suspended as conflict spreads. Seafood companies have been busy trying to find alternative routes – and an airline that will transport their fish.

While the Gulf states represent a key destination for seafood exporters, it is not yet a huge market.

Many restaurants in the likes of Dubai and Oman, for example, will probably have temporarily closed.

The region is probably more important to seafood technology companies planning to build land fish  farms across the Middle East but they should be able to ride out disruption at least in the short term.  

Norway is the main seafood exporter into China, now a rapidly growing market for salmon. Chinese airlines are able to fly over Russia so shipments to that part of the world should remain largely unaffected.

Last month Superna Airlines started a new service flying between Oslo and Shanghai, China’s largest city. The direct freight connection to Shanghai is one of several new freight routes between Oslo and Asia recently.

A few weeks earlier Hainan Airlines announced it was resuming flights between Oslo and Beijing, in which salmon will be one of the main cargo commodities. The airline will also carry passengers.

Meanwhile in the UK, a spokesperson for industry body Salmon Scotland said: “As the UK’s largest food export and a major supplier to markets around the world, we are monitoring this evolving situation in the Middle East closely. We will supply customers to the best of our ability based on available air services, as fresh salmon is transported in wide-bodied aircraft holds.

“We hope that the situation improves quickly for all those people who are directly affected in the Gulf.”

No-one knows how long the war will last, but the one certainty is that freight and insurance costs will rise sharply, at least in the short to medium term.