Features Operations
BizAv: Smart BizSense for Clearwater

Atlantic Canada is not the first region that most Canadians would
think of as a centre of corporate aviation. But several of Atlantic
Canada's major corporations have long understood the value of corporate
aviation. Companies like Sobey Foods, which recently took delivery of a
second Gulfstream 100, Irving Oil and french-fry king McCain Foods each
operate two or more corporate aircraft. Clearwater Fine Foods Inc. is
another Atlantic company that has realized the benefits of corporate
aircraft when based in offthe- beaten-track Halifax. Few who live
outside Atlantic Canada have heard of the seafood giant, but it's one
of the region's fastest-growing companies. It also operates one of the
newest corporate aircraft fleets, with a Raytheon King Air 350 and a
Hawker 800XP.

Since Clearwater co-founder and president John Risley's humble
beginnings in the seafood business 27 years ago when he peddled
lobsters from the back of his pickup truck along the Bedford Highway
outside Halifax, operations have spiralled upward for this Atlantic
conglomerate. It is worth $510 million, with annual sales over $300
million worldwide. It is Canada's largest privately- owned fishery
firm.The company has seven plants and five storage facilities
throughout Atlantic Canada with other facilities in Louisville,
Kentucky; Europe (London and Brussels); and Argentina. It has its own
fleet of 25 fishing vessels, including two scallop boats in Argentina,
and employs 2,000 people.