Flowers by Sea Container
In 2008, La Gaitana Farms started to experiment with the transport of flowers by sea container. Several trials were carried out and towards the end of 2008 various 40’ reefers containing carnations and mini carnations were shipped to Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The results are excellent and the vase life of the flowers exceeded expectations.
The aforementioned is a result of proper management of the maturity stage of the harvested flowers, botrytis control and post harvest treatments like pre cooling, chemicals, disinfection and packaging in special boxes.
During the Hortifair 2008 in Amsterdam, the flowers that had arrived by sea container were exhibited and caused an impact amongst the visitors because of the freshness they displayed.
In an ever increasing demand for environmentally friendly products, flowers by sea are the preferred choice of supermarkets in Europe. On average, the CO2 emission of an airplane is 53 times that of an ocean going vessel when transporting the same amount over the same distance. Although flowers by air will remain an important option, the amount of flowers transported by sea container, will increase in the future.