Transport from farm to harbour
There are two ways for the first transport of the flowers in the boxes from the farm towards the harbour. Either way depends on the quantity to be shipped. The first way is to have a sea(reefer) container stationed at the farm itself, the other way is to transport the flowers by groupage of the flowers in a central place.
The amount of boxes per reefer-container is 200 boxes for a 20feet container, and 500 boxes for a 40feet container. The total amount of flowers per box depends on the type of flowers, the variety, the height and the weight of each stem. The shipment of january 12th (20foot reefer) , was carried out through groupage in Nairobi to make sure that all the flowers were pre-cooled before shipment to Rotterdam – Holland.
After arrival of the 20foot reefer container at the farm in Nairobi, it was inspected in order to make sure that it is ready to be used.As a reefer container operates in a different way than a truck or airplane, reefersticks should be installed. During this transport the reefersticks were 3*3 cm and placed in between the boxes, and between boxes and the reefercontainer itself. The reefer has a blowingcapacity of 50m3/hour through special floor departments. By using 100% of the floorspace of the container during packing, and placing reefersticks, an underpressure situation is created so that the air has to go up. In case the reefer is not securely packed, underpressure will not be created or created differently so that airmovement will not be ideal with all possible consequences for the quality of the flowers (risk of botrytis).
After the last inspections on the reefer container it is ready for departure towards the harbour in Mombassa – Kenya, from where it will be shipped to Rotterdam – Holland.
All data has be set before departure: Temperature setting of the reefer at 0,5 degrees celcius and a humidity of 95%, ventilation set at 5cmb/hr, defrost cycle default – the container can not be unplugged from power for more than 1 hour!
