Etihad Crystal Cargo, the cargo arm of UAE’s national airline, recently transported live reared sturgeon for the world’s biggest caviar factory which is being built in Abu Dhabi.

The 22 adult sturgeon fish were flown from Frankfurt Hahn Airport to Abu Dhabi and then transported to a new 60,000 sq m farm recently commissioned for rearing sturgeons and production of caviar in the UAE.

Roy Kinnear, Etihad Airways’ senior vice president Cargo, said: “Etihad is proud of its reputation for carrying precious cargo and this now includes sturgeon fish which are on the list of global endangered species.”

“The Etihad Crystal Cargo team, working closely with our ground handling colleagues and clients, demonstrated expertise and coordination skills to ensure the fish were shipped safely from Frankfurt to their new home in the UAE,” he added.

Etihad’s clients in the project were the UAE-based Bin Salem Holding and United Food Technologies, a German company, both of who are working together on the development of the caviar factory.

Each sturgeon was transported in a specially designed container in a temperature controlled environment which was always between 10 and 15 degrees centigrade. At each stage of the process the pallets were loaded and unloaded within minutes.

Etihad utilised one of its new A330-200 freighter aircraft, which provides state-of-the-art temperature control technology, to transport the endangered species, a statement said. – TradeArabia News Service