Intermodal Shipping Containers for Live Aquatic Product

The proposed research is to evaluate the feasibility of a volume transport and holding container for live fish and aquatic product. The proposed container would aerate, cool and circulate water using liquid air and no external power supply. The technology would allow a cost effective means to maintain a hibernation-like torpor in fish to overcome physiological constraints of volume live transport and holding. The technology would: allow up to several weeks transport/holding times; allow denser packing of fish with less water; minimize respiration and fish discharges; eliminate the need for feeding during transport/holding; and minimize stress to fish. Preliminary estimates of shipping costs from an inland U.S. location to an Asian port would be less than $1.00 per pound of fish including: the capital costs of the container and components: all shipping and handling of fish and water; liquid air; and return shipping (empty) of the containers. The Phase I research would focus on two major feasibility issues: 1) The engineering of the tank and components; and 2) The physiological effects on the fish of cooling, holding, and then warming. The research utilizes a team of engineers and fish biologists employed by Allied Engineering Services, Inc. and Montana State University.