Flower power delivers sweet Valentine’s Day for carriers

Chalk up two more carriers looking forward to a happy Valentine’s Day this week, as Luxembourg-based Cargolux added an extra 1,200 tonnes of capacity to its 20 weekly flights out of Nairobi, Quito and Bogota. Meanwhile, LATAM Cargo reported shipping more than 9,500 tons of flowers in the four weeks leading up to tomorrow’s holiday.

Cargolux transports most flowers from Colombia, Ecuador and Kenya, with the carrier estimating flowers from Kenya make up about 7 percent of global trade in flowers. About 35 percent of flowers from the country end up in European markets. The carrier aims to deliver flowers to distribution centers in Europe within 48 hours of their harvest, transporting them under its “CV fresh” perishables product line.

Most of the flowers LATAM Cargo transports are destined for the United States, however – specifically, to Miami International Airport (MIA), which received about 7,900 tonnes of flowers from LATAM, up from a more typical 5,000 tonnes per week. Of the flowers entering the U.S., 89 percent remained in Florida while most of the remainder continued on to Los Angeles. Another 690 tonnes, were destined for the Netherlands.

Between Jan. 17 and Feb. 7, more than 163 freighters departed from Ecuador and Columbia, for a total of more than 4,310 tonnes of flowers from Colombia and 5,220 tonnes from Ecuador, the carrier reported. This year’s volumes amounted to a new record for the carrier, which introduced a new perishable product to its portfolio in 2016.

Those interested in learning more about perishables supply chains are invited to join us in Shanghai at the Mandarin Oriental Pudong 23-25 April for Cargo Facts Asia. To check out this year’s agenda, or to register, visit www.cargofactsasia.com