For cut flowers growers and traders, having to deal with air freight is getting increasingly difficult. The cold chain needs improvements and airports are getting busy. These are very good reasons to look for a viable alternative to air transport. If you add the economic costs and environmental impacts related to aerial transportation, it definitely makes sense to look for another option.
Sea freight has long been seen as this new, cheaper and more environmentally friendly solution. But due the difficulty to maintain the quality of stems during transportation that are sometimes weeks long (think about roses from Kenya or Ecuador, or other flowers shipped to the Netherlands), the maritime way is still far from being an easy and ideal answer. But this might have changed just recently.
Janny MT is a French company that provides low oxygen storage boxes. These “natural controlled atmosphere modules” are already used for many years by growers to extend the shelf life of their stems in cold storage. This technology will very soon be available in a new, “shipping-friendly” version, specifically designed to fit in reefer containers.
Combined with the low temperature that the reefer containers keep all along the transport chain, these low oxygen storage boxes allow to keep quality at its best through two main features: a low oxygen rate that is naturally obtained by the breathing of the stored stems (with O2 and CO2 both stabilizing between 1 and 5%), and a completely airtight bin, maintaining a high relative humidity inside the box without condensation, thus preserving the freshness in the best possible way.
The shape of the bin, that can be nested into each other when empty, offers a 1/3 return ratio that makes this solution a truly realistic one for the sea transport of cut flowers stems. Janny MT confirms that there are huge interests from flower companies, and that their packaging can become a true revolution for the cut flowers industry.
For more information:
Janny MT
La Condemine
71260 Péronne
France
T: +33.3.85.23.96.20
F: +33.3.85.23.96.20
www.jannymt.com