CFI once again took part in the Seafood Expo Global in Brussels, Belgium, marking our 15th year in attendance at “The Grandaddy of Seafood Shows.” We especially looked forward to this year as we were able to work with our new partners at Kuehne & Nagel to discuss the worldwide transportation of seafood and the synergy between our companies. There was a hum of positivity throughout the show with a strong dialog between buyers and sellers regarding the upcoming seasonal products and a return of the ASMI food truck and grizzly mascot.
The Seafood Expo was our first meeting and joint sales opportunity to integrate ourselves with the stellar force of the K&N European offices and not a moment was wasted. There is camaraderie among our associates when they are finally able to shake hands and put names to faces. K&N has a finely tuned staff of subject matter experts and the connections we made reinforce the joy we have being on a unified team. They’re delighted to have CFI to handle their perishables distribution in a symbiotic atmosphere. The positivity continued on as we received excellent feedback, strong dialog, and some new project opportunities from the European buyers and agents.
The strong participation of so many attendees is always staggering the first day as the floor of the event seems oceanic in size and scope. Throngs of people make their way around the event, stopping briefly to say hello, making new friends and greeting long-time associates in a ground swell of excitement. It is a monster show where we stay 
busy and engaged with a congregation of professionals who are all dedicated to the promotion of the global seafood market.
Unfortunately, I would feel remiss if I didn’t remark on the city itself as this year there was a definite feeling that Brussels isn’t as safe as it once was. With such a large influx of people in this event, it’s hard to imagine an alternate venue holding this expo, but we expect it will need to happen sooner rather than later. If you’ve visited any other trade show similar in size and scope to Seafood Expo Global, leave us a comment on the city and venue to have a dialog about your experience and recommendations.
There are great forecasts about the Sockeye Salmon run and exported caviar that we heard about throughout this trip and we look forward to working closely with
our partners at K&N to bring an exemplary perishables distribution to all of our clients this year. Please let us know if you had a chance to meet with us, share photos of your time at the Seafood Global Expo, or just chat about possible alternate venues that could be feasible in years to come. We remain dedicated to providing expert care and information on all of your perishable cargo.
Thank you to everyone who made this such a successful trip!
