T.J. Pearson, left, and Phil Miles pack lobsters in a special insulated box at Maine Coast in York last week for an order being sent to Hong Kong for Chinese New Year celebrations.

T.J. Pearson, left, and Phil Miles pack lobsters in a special insulated box at Maine Coast in York on Wednesday for an order being sent to Hong Kong for Chinese New Year celebrations.

T.J. Pearson packs lobsters into dividers at Maine Coast in York. The company lost 90 percent of his China business, which used to represent 22 percent of total sales.

Phil Miles, left, and T.J. Pearson place lobsters vertically into dividers in a specially insulated box at Maine Coast in York.

During the Lunar New Year festival in China, people greet each other with a blessing that incorporates a reference to lobster and means be healthy.

Jason Paciosek places a lobster into a special insulated box at Maine Coast in York. Maine lobster dealers are struggling to manage the fallout from the U.S.-China trade war.

Phil Miles places a piece of a foam on top of lobsters in special insulated box at Maine Coast in York last week. In the past, about half of the company's Lunar New Year sales were to China, but that has changed.

Pat Hanscom places a box of lobsters on top of a stack before the stack is plastic wrapped and loaded onto a truck at Maine Coast in York last week. The lobsters were being shipped to Hong Kong for Chinese New Year celebrations.

An address label on a box of lobsters at Maine Coast in York shows Hong Kong as the destination.

Britt Langford of Maine Coast in York holds a pair of lobsters. A month before the tariffs were announced, Maine Coast hired two new salespeople to cater to the Chinese market.

Britt Langford works at her desk at Maine Coast in York.