Seafreight pilot project comes up roses

A pilot project to move flowers from Kenya to Europe by sea rather than air is proving to be extremely successful, according to Anton Bril, manager trade services VGB in the Netherlands. VGB, a Europeheadquartered association of wholesalers in f lowers and plants, launched the pilot programme more than a year ago in an effort to cut costs for f lowers exported from Mombasa in Kenya. “There are also other challenges when moving a perishable such as f lowers by air. For example, the temperature settings in the cargo hold of airplanes is often too high at between 4-10 degrees Celsius – and there’s a degree of uncertainty about whether shippers' instructions about temperature are carried out to the letter.” Bril said that because of the difference in cold chain performance between airlines as well as between cargo freighters and passenger planes, it was decided to opt for seafreight for roses from Kenya to Antwerp – and he said it was proving to be extremely successful. “The seafreight option does take far longer at around 24 days compared to three days when using airfreight,” said Bril, “but we have found no difference in the quality of the roses.” He said with the roses exposed to temperatures of around 10 degrees Celsius for three days compared to the 24 days at sea where the temperature is regulated at 1 degree Celsius, the same degree hours were measured. “Ultimately it means the shelf life to the consumer is the same even though it takes much longer by sea.” Bril said with the second shipment of roses having been delivered successfully recently there was undoubtedly going to be more f lowers moved this way from Africa to Europe. “It makes economic sense and it is more environmentally friendly as the carbon footprint saving is massive,” he said. “What this project has proved is that it is extremely viable to move a fragile product like roses by sea.” INSERT Ultimately it means the shelf life to the consumer is the same even though it takes much longer by sea.