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SEAFOOD companies in Britain and Europe were facing limited disruption of air shipments of fresh fish from Iceland and possibly other Nordic countries this week resulting from the eruption of the volcano Grimsvotn.
Two consignments of fresh fish to Liege in Belgium had to be cancelled yesterday and for a time there was a possibility that flights to the Humber could also be affected if the ash cloud spread further south. Humberside Airport, near Grimsby, normally receives supplies of freshly caught cod, haddock and plaice from Reykjavik at least four or five time a week, much of it destined for quality end supermarkets like Waitrose and Marks & Spencer.
However, there was every indication today that the worst maybe over as the cloud dispersed. The disruption is not as serious as last year's incident when another Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajokull halted fish flights for more than a week.Scientists said the eruption of the Grimsvotn volcano over the weekend may have been larger than last year’s eruption but that conditions were different.
Icelandair is monitoring the situation closely and a number of both passenger and cargo flights have been getting away, although a flight to London and Glasgow was cancelled. Isafjiord Airport in the north of the country has been closed. An Icelandic fishing industry spokesman said: "We have to hope that the eruption will be brief. Both suppliers and customers will have to take things one day at a time.
The regular sea shipments of fish to the Humber from Iceland and the Faroe Islands are not expected to affected so there should not be too much of a problem on the Grimsby and Hull Markets next week provided the weather does not worsen. Last night volcanic ash was reported to have fallen around Orkney and around Bergen in Norway.
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