Retailers need to be in the loop to reduce shrinkage By Karen E. Thuermer, AJOT Without a doubt, the world loves fresh fruits and vegetables. While flowers have always been a major commodity in the air cargo business, today volumes of edible perishables flown by air are fast increasing, whereas flower shipments remain flat. Such are the findings of Colography as presented by Manuel Aragon, president of Miami-based Teqflor at this year’s Air Cargo Forum in Bilbao, Spain. Teqflor manages the import of flowers for distribution in the United States and elsewhere in the world. In a business that is built around product quality where the cost of logistics failures are high, Aragon points out that a rose stem has 14 days of life from the day it is cut. Any slowdowns in logistics or temperature failures along the way will not only shorten the amount of time the consumer will be able to enjoy a quality rose, but also shrink its shelf life at point of sale. Not only do challenges exist between the time it takes to cut and bundle flowers and produce, multiple steps along the way from harvest to home are complicated with myriad opportunities for failure. With security now the key issue in trade, along with efforts to stop bioterrorism and the spread of airborne disease, more and more government rules and regulations are being implemented that also slow the cross boarder transport of perishables. “In the case of all perishables, we are now facing increasing conflicts between trade facilitation and security issues,” Aragon comments. “We are seeing slower trade as a result of more security.” Among the challenges impacting the industry are searches for weapons of mass destruction, unsafe foods, contraband, and diseases impacting agriculture and livestock. “Consequently, in the future, the industry will see more valued added procedures added to the export process and integrated logistics operations such as air carriers more involved,” he says. “After all, if we don’t have reliable flight schedules, there cannot be a good logistics chain. We need to control perishable shipments end to end from production to point of sale.” Latin America’s role Latin America factors heavily in the export trade of perishables. According to Frederik Jacobsen, president and CEO of Tampa Airlines Cargo, who also spoke at the ACF, 50 to 55% of all perishable shipments come from Latin American. “That percentage rises to 90% in some markets,” he adds. “Perishables are by far the fastest growing sector in air cargo.” Jacobsen points out that for most active carriers operating in Latin America perishables represent 50% to 80%of their total volume. “Most are hauling the perishables to North America and some to Europe,” Jacobsen says. “We are seeing increasing amounts being flown to the Far East.” Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, and Chile encompass 80% of the volume in perishables cargo in South America. “Northbound, their cargoes are dominated by flowers, fresh vegetables, and fish,” he says. At present, carriers are experiencing sustained growth year to year in this trade. “There is adequate match of lift to demand,” Jacobsen says. Helping the movement of such goods are cool rooms and technologies such as vacuum cooling. “We are using more vacuum cooling, especially for flowers to Europe, with good results,” he says. Some airlines are providing value added services such as pre-sorting and price coding in their effort to become more involved, participate in more market share of profits, and move the commodity faster along. But Jacobsen believes there is plenty of room for improvement. “With Miami, FL controlling a large portion of the flowers and perishables trade, airplanes can be grounded as was the case during the recent hurricanes that hit the State,” he says. “There are also no industry standards and little refrigeration. Consequently, with poor temperature control facilities, it is difficult to control quality.” The problem lies primarily in Latin America where air