January 5, 2014 — Stephanie Nadeau pulls two lobsters out of a pile and holds the pair up. One droops while the other swings out its claws and arcs its body as if ready for a fight.
“He’s got plenty of energy to make it to China,” says Nadeau, a lobster dealer in Arundel.
The droopy lobster gets a truck ride to a processing facility. The feisty one wins a 10,600-mile, 35-hour journey to Shanghai in an insulated air cargo container.
December is the busiest time of year for lobsters heading overseas for the Christmas and New Year’s market. For decades, Maine dealers have exported lobsters to Europe, where lobster for Christmas dinner is traditional fare. But as exports to the Old World level off because of Europe’s economic and currency woes, exports to Asia have accelerated.
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