DHL Global Forwarding has expanded its air freight capacity in Norway to address growing Asian demand for seafood by launching a round-the-world freighter service which doubles the frequency of its connection between Norway and Asia.

According to DHL, demand on the trade lane has been continuously growing since the company launched the seafood cold chain solution in May 2017, transporting live crabs and other seafood from Lakselv in North Norway to Seoul via Oslo.

“Demand for high-quality imported seafood continues to swell in Asia: South Korea’s seafood imports rose in 2016 for the third year in a row, and China may soon become the world’s largest seafood importer due to rising domestic appetites,” said Kelvin Leung, CEO of DHL Global Forwarding Asia Pacific. “Our new service links this demand to Norway’s seafood producers while maintaining freshness, timeliness and cost-effectiveness through the frequency of its flights. That will definitely benefit South Korean and Chinese seafood importers seeking new and efficient logistics options to keep up with the hunger of consumers region-wide.”

DHL now connects Oslo to Asia twice a week by flying a Boeing 747-400F on a round-the-world route from Brussels to Oslo, Seoul, Shanghai, Cincinnati and back to Brussels.

“With Norwegian seafood imports surging more than 70% last year, South Korea’s seafood industry will need faster and more frequent capacity between the two countries to keep up with demand,” said SP Song, managing director of DHL Global Forwarding South Korea. “This service will help strengthen our customers’ ability to meet the growing appetite from consumers for high-quality overseas seafood as part of their everyday meals at an affordable price.”

DHL will transport seafood from Lakselv Airport Banak to its hub in Oslo twice a week. The 747 will pick up the seafood in Oslo and fly to Seoul, where it will be discharged and loaded with general cargo. The total transit time from the origin, only 100km from the North Cape, to the final destination in South Korea has been reduced from 48 to 20 hours.

“Norwegian seafood exporters are already experiencing peak sales for their produce, not just from Asia but also European markets at their doorstep, making high-frequency and high-speed freight capacity even more essential to keep supply chains from breaking down under the weight of demand,” said Leung. “By halving their supply chain lead times, our expanded services to Seoul give Norway’s fishery industry the logistics capacity to rapidly gain consumer share in Asia while retaining their strong presence in Europe.”