Aviagen Australia complete first grand parent breeder shipment to China

From its production base in Griffith, NSW, Aviagen Australia achieved an important milestone as a production facility for the Asian region, by successfully shipping Arbor Acres Plus grandparent chicks for the first time to a customer in China.

Shipments from the US and also the UK have served as the main supply locations for over 30 years to China and Asia.

Alternative supply source
Now a successful shipment from an Australian production facility offers customers in the Asian region an alternative supply source with the added advantages of shorter distances and a similar operational time zone, benefiting chick arrival and communication throughout the delivery.

“We were pleased that the birds arrived safely, in good health and compliance with the Chinese import regulations and health certificate requirements,” commented Dr. Joe Ng, Aviagen Technical Service Manager, who provided additional supervision by accompanying the birds on the direct Air China flight from Sydney to Beijing.

Being the first shipment to China, the preparation and planning has been significant with several important new procedures and requirements needing to be fully understood, agreed and tested well before the eventual shipment was given the go ahead.

“Establishing a set of export and import documents that satisfied both the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service (AQIS) and the China Animal Husbandry Group was ‘breaking new ground’ as well as getting an understanding of the specific testing required and then making it happen”, commented Craig Dawe, ANZ Planning and Export Coordination Manager.

Safe arrival of chicks
At the same time, transportation and handling details had to be worked out and agreed with ground crew and the airline staff to ensure the chicks would arrive in good condition to satisfy the import requirements and the customer. Temperature loggers were placed on 2 earlier flights without chicks, to monitor cargo hold temperatures and ventilation. Meetings were held with the freight forwarding company, DHL and Air China to communicate the desired procedures and gain assurances that the target conditions for the chicks would be met. Hatch in Griffith also had to be set and timed specifically for the early hours of the morning to ensure all procedures were completed for an on time arrival at Sydney Airport for the flight to Beijing.

Much of the early work sourcing Arbor Acres Plus grandparents from Australia for delivery to China was carried out by Han Feng, Vice President China and Bill Souther, Senior Vice President Asia who concluded, “China is a dynamic industry and we are very proud to be part of it. From 1986, China has been supplied by the UK and US, now we are particularly happy to be able to supply China from the additional location of Australia, offering further security to the future growth and development of their industry.”

Source: Aviagen