South America back on track

Signs of economic recovery in South America has once again enthused energy in the air cargo sector in the region, as industry players hope to look at the extension of the positive environment. They, however, will have to take strategic decisions from time to time to ensure sustainability.

“When it comes to strictly Latin America, MIA handled 707,755 tonnes worth $30 billion in 2017. That is 69 percent and 51 percent respectively of all air trade moving through MIA. Today MIA handles 63 percent of all the air perishables entering the United States. If you break down perishables into its 3 major commodity types: flowers 89 percent, fruits and vegetables 65 percent and seafood 47 percent imported into the US by air enter via MIA,” informs Emir Pineda, manager aviation trade & logistics - Miami-Dade Aviation Department – MIA.

Quito International Airport, the busiest in Ecuador informs that 95 percent of its export cargo is flowers, apart from other perishables like vegetables, fish and exotic fruits. The import commodities include clothing, technological equipment and pharmaceuticals.

“A vast majority of our operations is flowers. On average, we move 12,000 tonnes of flowers per month. Ecuador is well known for having the world's best roses and in the past five years the ‘florícolas’, flower farms in Spanish, have added additional care in the treatment of their products with higher standards,” said Andrew O’Brian, CEO of Quiport.

“Valentine's and Mother's days are some of our flower export high seasons. On low season we have a monthly average of 12,000 to 13,000 tonnes, while during our high season we have peaks of up to 17,000 tonnes of flowers being shipped from our airport. For the Russian Women's day, we also have an important uptick where we have an average daily handling of 800 tonnes daily during two weeks, in relation to the low season average of 400 tonnes daily,” O’Brian added.

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