Mark Loos, IP Handlers:
Schiphol's largest freight forwarder of flowers expects continued growth
Mark Loos at IPHandlers' facility in Aalsmeer, the Netherlands (Only three miles from both Schiphol (Amsterdam Airport) and the Royal FloraHolland flower auction).
"We mainly process plants and flowers," says Mark, "with fruit and vegetables in second place." Recently, considerable investments were made in the cooling installation. "We already had a good 6,500 m2 of cold storage, and recently we added another 3,500 m2, which means that we now have more than 10,000 m2 of cold storage. We also added a fourth vacuum cooler and increased our power capacity so that all cooling and machinery can run at the same time." As a result, the throughput capacity of IPHandlers has increased to more than 40 tonnes of boxed flowers per hour being refrigerated back to the desired temperature.
10 million kg of flowers
"Last year we processed more than 75 million kg of flowers in our facilities. Maybe the busiest day is Valentine's Day: last year we processed more than 7.5 million kg for Valentine's Day and this year that number grew by 25% to more than 10 million."
International Women's Day
It gets busy at different times of the year. "We also have other peak days, such as the first day of school in Eastern Europe, Easter, Christmas etc. But perhaps the busiest day of the year is March 8. Last year we even had to rent a vacuum cooler and 8,000 m2 of additional cold storage.
Efficient packing
They have to fit the maximum number of kilograms into the least amount of space, and make sure that every cubic centimeter of every cubic meter in every available transport is used up. Next to capacity and speed, this poses the main challenge in this industry, and this is exactly what the people at IPHandlers are so skilled at.
For more information:
IPHandlers BV
Mark Loos
Noordpolderweg 20
1432 JH Aalsmeer
The Netherlands
T: +31 297 747 200
E: mloos@iphandlers.nl
www.iphandlers.nl