Sian Flowers is a Kenyan producer of roses and summer flowers, that export their blooms to Europe, the United States, the UAE, and Australia.
The challenge
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Sian Flowers’ supply chains, especially to Europe, were impacted, as it was other players in the industry.
Fewer flights were operating to western markets, and space on board was limited, making it difficult to secure space for Sian’s entire cargo, which resulted in wastage of produce. Air freight rates had also become prohibitively expensive, which had an impact on margins.
The Maersk solution
Maersk’s team in Kenya devised an end-to-end cold chain solution that facilitated the easy movement of the cut flowers from Mombasa to Rotterdam by ship instead of plane.
Captain Peter, Maersk’s proprietary digital visibility assistant, offers Sian remote monitoring of the temperature and humidity levels in the container along the journey, enabling them to act to maintain the CA containers’ conditions intact. One of the most important aspects of the ocean solution and conducive to maintaining the freshness of the flowers on arrival at the destination is the reliability of our ocean scheduled times, which we guarantee, as well as the offer of long-term freight rates that could lend stability to Sian’s finances in a volatile environment.
Read the article:www.maersk.com