Airports support peak flower season with special projects and infrastructure

#2: Miami (MIA) supports flower shipments with streamlined procedures  

Miami International Airport (MIA) is well known for the high volumes of perishables that move through its airport. In the realm of flowers alone, MIA reported that during 2018 it handled 88.7% of all flowers coming into the United States by air. To support its perishable volumes and flower shipments, specifically, the airport offers special on-airport infrastructure and procedures. 

As most of the flower and perishable volumes coming into MIA are from South America, the airport hosts its Cargo Clearance Center (CCC) on airport property, which houses all U.S. Federal Agencies to provide a one-stop clearance center for documentation. In addition to this center, the airport also has a dedicated “Plant Protection Quarantine Inspection Station” building for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Plant Protection and Quarantine division. The building includes a laboratory where officers can inspect foreign plants that may contain pests or diseases not native to the U.S.  

“The laboratory and operations of USDA at the airport provide a huge advantage – if an odd insect or something is found in flower or perishables shipments, it can be analyzed immediately at airport, rather than needing to be sent to Alabama for the same procedure, which can save companies time and money,” MIA Aviation Trade and Logistics Manager Emir Pineda said in an interview with Cargo Airport News. 

USDA also monitors the airport’s on-site flower and perishable fumigation trailers that are located on the west side of the airport adjacent to MIA’s “Cargo City,” which houses the operations of its cargo providers including LATAM Cargo, UPS, Avianca, Estafeta, Atlas, C.H. Robinson and Strat Air. According to MIA, the total facilities combined offer more than 400,000 square feet of refrigerated warehousing for perishables.  

Beyond its booming perishables business, which the airport expects will continue to grow, MIA has recently welcomed the expansion of operations by several stakeholders at airport, including Aeroterm, Ethiopian Airlines, Turkish Cargo and Southern Air. These expansion have likely contributed to the airport’s 2.8% increase in volumes year-over-year, and no. 9 ranking in our top 25 cargo airports rankings for 2018.