Lufthansa Cargo carries 900 tonnes of roses for Valentine’s Day to Europe

Frachtverladung in eine Boeing MD-11F der Lufthansa Cargo Photo: Werner Krüger / Lufthansa 1998 D 26-36-67

To serve high import demand around Valentine’s Day, Lufthansa Cargo has transported 900 tonnes of the long-stemmed flowers on the Quito-Frankfurt, Bogotá – Frankfurt, and Nairobi – Frankfurt routes this year, which are equivalent to some 10 million individual roses. The roses are being imported over a period of about three weeks.

Most of the roses begin their journey in Colombia, Ecuador or Kenya. To keep the flowers fresh from post-harvest until its recipient, the airline has developed the special Fresh/td product specifically for the transportation of perishable goods such as flowers and food.

The roses are harvested several times a day at the flower farms in Africa and South America and then immediately placed in water and cooled. Following sorting and packing, the flowers are taken directly to the airport and loaded onto the freighters. The flowers only remain in Frankfurt Airport for a short while. Just a few hours after landing, the roses are transported onwards from this city on the Main River out into all of Europe – primarily to the Dutch-based flower auctions and German destinations, but also to neighbouring countries, including Austria and Switzerland.