EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. – C.H. Robinson is helping customers navigate a busier kick-off to the floral season including leveraging a new farm-to-store floral program in Latin America to enhance its end-to-end temp-controlled supply chain solutions for retailers.
“With Valentine’s Day on a Friday, strong early demand, and favorable weather, we anticipate one of the busiest floral seasons in recent years,” said Jose Rossignoli, president, Robinson Fresh. “Today, C.H. Robinson provides a multitude of services for retail, grocery, and growers alike to support the 2,500% surge in floral volumes ahead of Valentine’s Day. We are in a great position to help our customers navigate the uptick and any changes or disruptions they may face along the way.”
Peak Floral Season
Nearly 70% of florals annually move during the three-month period from Valentine’s Day to Mother’s Day. This surge poses challenges for shippers due to the globally sourced, perishable nature of the product and limited temperature-controlled transportation and storage. And the floral industry continues to expand—reaching $9.5 billion in retail sales last year, a 47% increase over five years, according to Circana.
According to a company press release, with 7-10 million boxes of flowers moved annually, C.H. Robinson already has the largest temperature-controlled capacity network in North America and the deep expertise to enable fast, seamless hand-offs across multiple transportation modes, quick pivots in times of disruption, and efficiencies that drive down costs. Its newly enhanced consolidation program locally in Colombia and Ecuador, where 95% of all flowers are sourced, further strengthens its reach across these key origin markets, offering an additional competitive advantage for shippers.
International Effort
“Our full suite of end-to-end transportation services really sets C.H. Robinson apart, especially in projects like this that are incredibly sensitive to time – not only in the perishable sense but also working with a very short window when consumer demand is highest,” said Michael Castagnetto, president of North American surface transportation at C.H. Robinson. “Operating in the world’s largest flower-exporting countries, we combine air operations, cold-chain warehousing in the U.S., and unmatched truckload expertise across North America. This seamless integration ensures our customers’ freight is covered from origin to final destination with confidence and ease.”
C.H. Robinson’s specialized temp-controlled services incorporate air freight including from Ecuador and Colombia —the world’s largest floral hub—directly into a temperature-controlled warehouse on the Miami International Airport tarmac, refrigerated trucking capacity, and direct-to-store deliveries to over 7,500 U.S. retail locations. Supported by 24/7 operations and real-time shipment visibility, these capabilities are critical for the rapid transport of a product that begins to perish the moment it leaves the farm.
“When we have a logistics challenge, C.H. Robinson is our first call,” said Robby Cruz, vice president of produce at Target. “The dynamics of our stores and the dynamics of sales change every day. Seasonal events create a huge bottleneck of freight coming through our supply chain in a short amount of time. For example, Valentine’s Day, when we have to bring in a large amount of flowers for our guests, C.H. Robinson helps us get the product into our distribution centers and into stores as quickly as possible to ensure that we are giving customers the best experience.”
Dana Guthrie is an award-winning journalist who has been featured in multiple newspapers, books and magazines across the globe. She is currently based in the Atlanta, Georgia, area.
