About 100 tonnes of live Nova Scotia lobster is being shipped from Halifax to parts of Europe and Asia this weekend on four 747 cargo aircraft.

Previously, lobster shipments were made on smaller planes over a longer period of time.

But a new cargo building still under construction at Halifax Stanfield International Airport is specially designed to hold more sensitive goods, said spokeswoman Ashley Barns.

"It's going to have about 8,000 square feet for temperature-controlled cargo, so that's going to be great for exporting perishable items like lobster, for example," she said.

'We really want to get our product into that market when it's strong, healthy, live and vibrant.'—Patrick McGuinness, Canadian Fisheries Council

The new arrangement, with the new 40,000-square-foot building and larger planes, is much better, said Patrick McGuinness, president of the Canadian Fisheries Council.

"What we find is that in Europe, lobster, live lobster is very much a Christmas traditional type of meal for people who can afford it, if you will," he said.

"And we really want to get our product into that market when it's strong, healthy, live and vibrant. So putting on larger planes for the holidays, we've got lobsters in the cargo space."

The improvements to shipping at the airport will be beneficial if Nova Scotia is able to tap the more lucrative lobster markets in Russia and China, McGuinness said.

"We have to diversify our markets for live lobsters, and this is a great help."

North Atlantic shrimp is already selling well in those markets and the same could happen with lobster, McGuinness said.

But the lobster industry has to get better organized with marketing and distribution first, he said.

Construction on the new cargo building began this summer.