In the run up to Valentine’s Day, Swissport expects to handle more than 250 million flowers at its Nairobi, Kenya air cargo centre.
The extra loads of flowers travel to global destinations from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on 35 additional freighters with volumes 50% higher than normal.
To meet demand, Swissport is investing in capacity and technology to handle perishable and sensitive cargo from the arrival of trucks, through a high-speed vacuum cooling process during acceptance to the loading of pallets on aircraft.
The concept was rolled out in Nairobi two years ago and has been implemented in Amsterdam and Liege.
Dirk Goovaerts, CEO CEMEAI region and Global Cargo Chair at Swissport, said: “With our latest investments in Amsterdam and Liege, we are strengthening our position as a trusted end-to-end partner for forwarders, shippers, and airlines providing flower logistics in Africa and Europe. The high levels of quality, strictly monitored by Swissport as well as independent industry watchdogs, are proof of our strategy – and ultimately lead to more happy end customers who can enjoy the beauty of fresh flowers for much longer.”
Swissport has improved intra-logistics within air cargo centres with more loading bridges for pallets and containers, over 140 caster deck positions in Amsterdam alone and a fast lane through the warehouse from the aircraft to trucks.
The upgrades have tripled loading capacity and sped up overall delivery times.
