Hello all -- get ready for another big week in seafood with an update on the most important developments.
First, an update on the American Seafoods fight with US Customs over its the controversial Bayside Program shipping route.
After attorneys clashed last week, the judge continues to think things over. We made a false start after a proposed order favoring American's bid to stop the Customs fines was filed, but it was soon clear that, nope, everything is still in limbo.
Irony of ironies, a Massachusetts-based processor is unable to fulfill major US Department of Agriculture (USDA) requests for Alaska pollock to be used in federal school lunch programs because of the chaos.
Though unrelated to the Bayside Program mess, Nippon Suisan Kaisha (Nissui) owned Gorton's is expanding Alaska pollock processing capacity for the McDonald's Filet-o-Fish sandwiches to the US West Coast for ease of delivery to the fast-food giant.
In an industry first -- as far as we know -- Faroese salmon farming giant Bakkafrost is taking to the skies on its own cargo plane in an effort to skip the logistical hurdles in delivering its fish to the booming US market.
Shipping continues to occupy a lot of focus among the industry. With costs all over the board for container freight, it's worth asking the question: "What is the 'right' price?"
Shipping container carriers are taking matters into their own hands after freight rates on three major East-West trade routes hit record highs, and committing to voluntary rate caps. It's good new for a seafood industry battered by cost inflation.
The co-founder of Norebo, one of the world's largest whitefish suppliers, took on tech giant Facebook over an anonymous page accusing the executive of tax evasion. It's a weird story, and worth reading.
Finding the 'X' factor in rebranding in seafood can be more difficult than it looks, experts say. We asked them what they thought about the most recent company to try it.
Speaking of branding, while recent years have seen some major companies step up, there is much more that the salmon industry can be doing, according to executives at the recent IntraFish Salmon Summit.
Russia's crab shipments to the United States have gradually climbed over the last five years, and cancellation of the Bristol Bay king season has provided a new opening.
Inflation watch: Analysts at Norwegian brokerage Pareto Securities raised its average salmon price estimate for the fourth quarter to NOK 60 ($6.93/€5.90) per kilo -- 25 percent above today's price.
And more concerning climate news as Mowi on Tuesday released anticipated losses from a warm weather-related die-off at an Eastern Canada farming site, estimating that a total of 450,000 close to market-sized fish would ultimately be lost in the incident -- around half the total fish at the site.
In addition, new statistics show 100,000 salmon were reported to have died at a Cooke Aquaculture salmon farm site in Maine in August following the company reporting uncommonly low oxygen levels in the cages. Regulators are investigating.
Finally, if you think you're busy, private equity firm Swen Capital Partners has a whopping 1,200 companies seeking investment from its Blue Ocean Fund to sort through.
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Have a great week ahead.
