Monitoring the cold chain in flower transport

‘Temperature must go down!’ claims FlowerWatch. Flowers need to be kept cool during the long transport within Kenya and to the Netherlands to guarantee quality on arrival and a long vase life. To improve the cold chain FlowerWatch monitors freight facilities and advices the supply chain partners. A Dutch delegation was shown around the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport's freight facilities at Kuehne + Nagel.

Sensitive flowers are stacked alternating to ensure airflow replacing the air heated up by respiration with cold air.

After roses are cut, they continue to breathe. The flowers use less energy when kept cool, ensuring longer vase life. Which is why monitoring of the cold chain is of great importance to ensure a longer vase life.

At Kuehne + Nagel they are well aware of the need of low temperatures for the roses they handle as a freight forwarder. When cooled trucks carrying the flowers come in, they bump into insulation material to connect seamlessly to the cooled facility of Kuehne + Nagel. The flowers are then offloaded into the facility and are kept at a constant temperature of 4°C. Due to respiration the flowers heat up themselves, stacked on top of each other the temperature increase is significant. This is why the flowers are blast-cooled in vacuum containers which take out the warm air and replace it with air of 2°C. The blast-cooled flowers are subsequently stored at Kuehne + Nagel waiting to be loaded onto the plane for their international flight.

FlowerWatch sensors monitor temperature and other relevant variables like air moisture.

FlowerWatch monitors various variables on the sites. For instance at triple FFF (stands for Fresh, Flexible, Fast), a freight forwarder and one of the four locations on JK International Airport that is licenced to screen the packages loaded on international flights. As a freight forwarder, FFF screens the flowers for illegal substances and loads the packed freight pellets onto the plane. To increase the vase life of the flower, this is conducted at 4°C as well. To keep the facility at the required temperature, continuous activation of ventilators is needed. The temperature is monitored regularly to allow for immediate action if thresholds are exceeded. When the temperature rises, the facility manager will be alerted. FlowerWatch provides this service to prolong flower vase life and enhance the transparency and trust relationship between growers and handlers.

Arranging the right flowers on the right packing tray for shipment is done in a cold facility. The process of identifying the boxes and stacking them on a freight tray is labour and time intensive.

In the case of any questions or remarks, contact NAI-LNV@minbuza.nl.

Check out the article of FlowerWatch; ‘Temperature exposure must go down’

Source: Agroberichten Buitenland