Practical Seminars on Sea Freight Transportation for Flowers from Kenya
The Netherlands Embassy and Kenya Flower Council came together to jointly offer the first series practical sea freight training seminars between April 20th to 22nd 2022. The practical sea freight training seminars were organized and run by FlowerWatch Kenya. The seminars were held in Naivasha (Kenya) with more than 190 people participating.
Written by Jeroen van der Hulst (FlowerWatch Kenya)
Flowers by Sea
The training seminars constituted both theoretical and practical parts with the following main objectives ;
- Ensuring that the Kenyan stakeholders in the flower sector are updated and committed to optimizing sea freight processes for flowers;
- Helping Kenyan stakeholders in the flower sector to better understand the potential bottlenecks, and identify opportunities to further develop sea transportation as a viable alternative for air freight;
- To learn from the sector and consequently identify the gaps that could be filled by either the Embassy or sector organizations such as Kenya Flower Council.
The practical seminars were a great success. FlowerWatch managed to have a cross-sectional representation of the sector including growers, traders, and logistics companies both small-scale and large-scale companies.
They also collaborated with experts who have been very instrumental in the campaign for sea freight shipments. The experts included Silpack Industries Ltd., (Packaging), CMA-CGM (Shipping line), and Chrysal Africa (Postharvest).
Below is what some of the participants had to say:
“We are grateful for the enlightening/illuminating training on sea-freight shipping of cut flowers and the benefits that come with it for the industry. Sea freight impacts our business positively as we can offer high-quality cut flowers at considerably affordable rates, compared to airfreight shipped products; allowing for cut flowers business continuity during prevailing strenuous global economic times. It also presents an opportunity to reduce production and supply pressure during our flower-peak seasons as we can schedule deliveries for peak seasons way in advance. The controlled temperatures and reduced handling of flowers will mitigate claims on damages or rotting hence fostering quality integrity of cut flowers. We look forward to engaging in our first sea-freight trial container destined for Sydney, our portfolio’s largest market.” Pauline W. Ngunyi, Director - Pollyfleur Ltd.
“The learning experience was good and to hear from all the stakeholders involved in this wonderful project, this helps to see the vision and mission to do things better and achieve great results together.” Anthony Muchiri, Warehouse Manager - Kuehne + Nagel Ltd.
Follow-up Post Training
Farms need more training on quality improvement for sea freight shipments as good quality is required to get good quality out as FlowerWatch observed that the difference between flowers shipped by sea or air is much smaller than between farms.
The second series of practical sea freight training seminars were held at three different locations in July 2022.
For more information about this sector or any other agricultural questions feel free to contact us via nai-lnv@minbuza.nl. For the latest updates on activities, new articles and more follow us on twitter on @NLAgiKenya and subscribe to our newsletter by sending us an email. In case of any non-agriculture questions for the Netherlands Embassy in Nairobi see, this website for contact information.