Caring for king crabs

Each week, Norway King Crabs SA flies around four tons of king crabs to markets at destinations around the world – from Korea in the East to San Francisco in the West. To keep them at their best, their stress must be minimised, and that means temperatures must be kept low. But shipping live produce around the world on ice is not easy.

Challenge

The packaging used to transport the crabs must not only hold enough ice or gel ice packs needed to keep the crabs cool, it must retain its shape so the crabs aren’t crushed while being adjustable by a few centimeters depending on the size of the crab. Finally, it must also help Norway King Crab AS keep its promise of being a friend to the environment.

Our Approach

Our 100% leak-proof DryPack packaging provided the ultimate solution. Being paper, the packaging can easily be adjusted according to the crab sizes.

Compared to the standard Styrofoam boxes, packaging is now on average two centimetres higher. The crabs have more space, which is especially important for the larger crabs. “The extra space means we can put more gel ice packs in, which means we can cool the crabs more,” says Svein Ruud, Managing Director of Norway King Crabs.. “When we cool them more they are less stressed. Their heart rate goes down.”

To delight diners’ taste buds, crabs are transported live from the sea all the way to restaurants’ tanks. To keep them at their best, their stress must be minimised, and that means temperatures must be kept low. But shipping live produce around the world on ice is not easy…

Results

• The flexible DryPack has helped the company increase transportation capacity by 20%, reducing air freight costs substantially.
• Cost of transporting packaging to northern Norway reduced by 90%
• Reduced mortality from 10% to below 4%
• Size easily optimised to minimise stress and maximise freshness for each crab.
• Unique design holds ice or gel ice packs securely in place, meeting 100% leak-proof criteria for air freight.
• High quality flexoprint work portrays Norway King Crab’s high quality brand and allows options like a current QR code campaign
• Disposal is cheaper and more environmentally friendly than styrofoam predecessor.