One more flower logistics certification
Just before attending the Proflora exhibition in Bogotá, Air France KLM Martinair Cargo announced the FlowerWatch approval for its flower exports out of Colombia, as an extension of the programme after the launch of the FlowerWatch certification in Kenya in June.
AFKLMP Cargo ships 11,000 t of fresh flowers from Colombia and 21,000 t from Ecuador to its Amsterdam hub in the Netherlands per year. The Dutch organisation has developed a quality assurance system which identifies challenges in the cold chain and helps to permanently fix them.
Its central concept is "time temperature exposure", expressed in degree hours. This is the average temperature of fresh flowers throughout transportation multiplied by the number of hours (1 degree hour = 1 hour x 1 degree Celsius). Every 500 degree hours reduces vase life by one day. (ah)