GK Airfreight Services, GmbH, has been around more than 40 years, so that air freighting live breeding sturgeon for caviar to a desert location is not exactly
revolutionary. But this time around, the fish were no “ordinary” sturgeon but -- Albinos! – White Sturgeon – a real rarity. These unusual creatures came from a Beluga farm in Rumania and were heading off to Lebanon.
Caviar is a delicacy as are the delicious sturgeon fish themselves which produce the precious eggs. In order to assure sturgeon health and the resulting caviar quality, it is imperative that the water in which the fish are transported is clean, fresh, and has sufficient oxygen. The temperature is very important, too, and must be held to 11’C. Additionally, a steady flow of fresh oxygen must be circulating in the water.
The breeding sturgeon fish themselves measure about 40 – 50 centimeters in length, roughly 16 to 20 inches, and weigh at least 500 grams just under a pound on up. They about five years old at this point, and, when delivered in their new home in Beirut, will be the founding generation of an expansive program for the production of caviar, that luscious, luxury dish cherished by gourmets and gourmands.
At GK Air’s Frankfurt Airport headquarters, GK’s managing director, Kay Wissenbach, explains, “When we are transporting fish, it is mandatory that we use special, rip-resistant plastic sack containers which are then placed inside of well-insulated transportation cases.
“Furthermore, we make sure that extra fresh well water enriched with water from the fishs’ own breeding ponds are brought along and added to the sacks replacing the original
“packing fluid” en route thus assuring a good supply of well-oxygenated, fresh water.”
For GK Air’s team of highly trained, experienced personnel, the transport of living fish also involves extensive organizational work as well as the technical, logistic challenges.
Obtaining sufficient numbers of oxygen tanks is one small example of what is required.
Wissenbach also notes that doing business in this part of the world is not easy. Lebanon lies on the eastern Mediterranean Sea in an area of political crisis. Beirut has striven since 1990 after the devastating end of the civil war there to create an infrastructure and enhance the city’s development. But the effort has been dealt severe setbacks repeatedly as a result of the warring conflict with Israel. The recent attempt to create a Beluga Caviar Farm is but one small brick in the effort to rebuild this fragile region.
The German sturgeon exporters are among the successful, upcoming firms which have found a market in the Near East, and are creating an industry based entirely on breeding stock.
