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BY CHRIS SHANNON

CAPE BRETON POST

NORTH SYDNEY, N.S.

Live Stor Ltd. of North Sydney has reached an agreement with Tennessee-based LIG Assets to establish two live lobster holding facilities in the U.S.

The new facilities would be based in Portland, Me. and Seattle, Wash.

Under the name, Live Stor America, a million-pound live holding system operation in both cities would support import and export of live seafood from the U.S., Europe and Asia.

“LIGA is very fortunate to partner with Live Ship, a company that is certain to disrupt the seafood delivery industry and shares our corporate values,” LIG Assets chairman Aric Simons said in a release issued earlier this month.

Leader in Green Assets, or LIGA, has a primary focus on residential and commercial real estate acquisition and development, particularly in the green and sustainable sectors.

LIG Assets’ Live Stor America operation will be based on the new live holding facility technology that is currently under construction at the Live Stor Sydney’s Keltic Drive location in Sydney River.

Once this 250,000-pound live lobster holding facility is operational in May it will act as a base for Jim and Allan Gillis’s other company, which is Live Ship Global Seafood Logistics Ltd.

Last year Eskasoni First Nation announced a new multi-use seafood storage and shipping operation at the former Co-op distribution centre located at 440 Keltic Dr., a joint venture with the Gillis brothers of North Sydney, who both have extensive experience in the industry.

Live Ship has an exclusive agreement with BioNovations of Antigonish to transport live snow crab and lobster.

This equipment from BioNovations is called the Traystor holding system, which is a new type of live seafood holding system that mimics the natural habitat of shellfish.

The Traystor crate can be used on fishing vessels, in purging systems, as a live holding system, or set up as distribution centres.

The Gillis brothers have a 50 per cent stake in BioNovations and their business partner Joe Boudreau owns the other 50 per cent.

The purpose of the system is to improve the overall domestic and international supply chain for live seafood so it can be long-haul trucked and shipped to overseas destination without affecting the quality of the product.

Jim Gillis said this is only the beginning of the relationship with LIG Assets.

“We know some of the people who are involved in LIG (Assets) so it was just a natural progression that we thought would work,” he said.

“We think this is a new sustainable way that’s more energy efficient to move lobster.

“And Live Ship will be the trucking company that will supply these areas and that’s cutting down on emissions also because you’re cutting out the airlines.”

He said the partnership is only in the early stages, however he’s anticipating Live Stor America to be operational in about a year from now.

Live Ship expects to have the first five, 53-foot road trailers operational by late this year for live seafood transport anywhere in North America. The company has ordered the first two of a 120 order of 40-foot specialized sea containers for transport of live lobster or snow crab to Europe or Asia by sea via container vessels.

The sea containers being built for Live Ship each cost approximately $300,000 and hold up to 11,300 kilograms or 25,000 pounds of product.

chris.shannon@cbpost.com

Twitter: @cbpost_chris

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