LAN CARGO and its affiliates transported 15 million bouquets of flowers all over the world during the four-week flower rush that led up to Valentine’s Day.
The company moves 32 per cent and 40 per cent of all export cut-flowers produced in Colombia and Ecuador respectively at this time of year, representing around 9,400 tonnes.
In the space of three weeks, some 200 LAN CARGO flights took off from Bogota and Medellin in Colombia, and Quito in Ecuador, tripling the average shipment loads, with a total of 2,100 tonnes airfreighted daily.
Main destinations were the United States and the Netherlands, with the majority via Miami, one of the most important cut-flowers distribution hubs in the world, and where LAN CARGO owns the largest cold storage warehouse facility at a US airport.
Cristian Ureta, LATAM Airlines Group’s cargo chief executive states: "We are very pleased to be an important part of such a special day for many people. There are two key dates in the transport of flowers and one of them is Valentine’s Day, when we carry more than 15 million bouquets across the world and this year we hope to have transported six per cent more than in 2013."
Colombia and Ecuador are the main exporters of flowers in Latin America. For both countries, floriculture is key to their economies, representing their top non-traditional agricultural export.
Main varieties transported are red roses (over 60 per cent, tripling in demand for Valentine’s Day), carnations, dahlias and chrysanthemums.
At the LAN CARGO cold storage facility, the flowers undergo a rigorous cold-chain process to preserve their lifespan.
They are then distributed to various US cities, as well as to Europe via Amsterdam, and to Oceania via Sydney.
