Mayesh, and a handful of other US companies, as well as the European buyers, are the last to ship flowers out of Ecuador. The Beast that I outlined in my previous post is largely the step-child of bouquet makers and mass markets as they ship out several weeks ahead of the holiday; but The Beast does continue to make it onerous and difficult to make smooth flower shipments.
by David Dahlson
The expeditious transfers of flowers out of Ecuador still have continuing issues, which Mayesh endeavors to reduce to a minimum by the evangelical tactics that I outlined. At night I try to tame “The Beast” by continuing to check cargo, packing and the condition of the flowers as well as making strategic decisions on late arrivals. We do not let one or two farms prejudice the timely delivery of all the other flower farms who went to great lengths to deliver the flowers for Mayesh to the airport on time. I often forward the 1200 or so boxes shipped each night without the delayed boxes from few farms. Remember, included in the consolidation of cargo includes making precise export paperwork, which has to have all the “T” ’s crossed and “i” ’s dotted, as well as exact weights and box dimensions, in order to go on to an aircraft. This data is then transferred electronically to US customs, so that everything is cleared prior to landing in Miami, FL.
Critically, Mayesh made a long term decision to use UPS exclusively to ship our roses from Ecuador. While UPS is more expensive than other cargo airlines, they are the only airline that runs on a fixed schedule. All the other Cargo airlines generally fly when the aircraft is full. This makes it hard to pursue a “just-in-time” philosophy, (that Mayesh believes intrinsic for fresh cut flowers) when you do not know when the plane will take-off. Indeed we are UPS’ oldest customer in Ecuador, and have been flying with them since they started operating in Ecuador.