This year in the U.S., Mother’s Day will be celebrated on Sunday, May 8. And as expected, it will be celebrated in a big way – but even more so this year with the demand for fresh flowers and consumer spending on course to well exceed that which the industry experienced for Valentine’s Day. Now that’s a lot of love!
“All of us at the Prime Fresh Handling are now in full swing responding to the surge in for our customers in advance of Mother’s Day,” says Cristina Moscoso, PFH General Manager-West Coast based in Miami. “In fact, we expect that our gateway hubs in South America, North America, and Europe will all see record volumes of fresh flowers and plants pass through this year.”
Employees across the Prime Fresh Handling system are presently hard at work, adeptly arranging for fast transport of these delicate perishables via dozens and dozens of air cargo flights. “Throughout the entire process, our team is tirelessly committed to ensuring a quick, efficient journey to the end-customers – while at the same time focusing on our everyday handling of fresh fish, produce, and pharmaceuticals,” Moscoso notes.
From Farm to Mom’s Arms
The first step in transporting this time- and temperature-sensitive floral commodities is delivery from the source — the outlying flower farms — to company facilities at the airports serving Bogota and Quito. Here, along with sister company Prime Logistics, employees immediately steer the bulk product into the company’s temperature-regulated warehouses for pre-cooling and other steps necessary to ensure safe and prompt loading onto waiting outbound cargo aircraft.
Brimming with fresh flowers and plants, as soon as the aircraft arrive at their designated downline ports, ground workers again immediately take the reins, ensuring all procedures are followed for a swift hand off to the waiting floral wholesalers, retailers, and other corporate customers and/or to connecting flights.
“Seven days a week, 365 days a year, our staff delivers on their promise to provide the fastest and most professional service for our multiple clients. I cannot stress enough that each member of the Prime Fresh Handling team is critical to achieving success in all the markets we serve, like pharma, fresh fish, and fruit and vegetables,” says Moscoso. “But on this most special day fresh-cut flowers reign. Nothing is more important than that moment when mothers everywhere are presented with the freshest and most gorgeous flowers in the world.”
She adds, “We’re deeply proud of the role we play in helping our clients’ customers – the spouses honoring their wives who are moms, and grateful sons and daughters saying thanks to their mothers, grandmothers, and great grandmas.”
A Glance at a Global Holiday
Becoming an official U.S. national holiday in 1914, Mother’s Day originated from the tireless efforts of Anna Jarvis, who in 1908 organized the observance to honor her late mother. Today, more than 50 countries worldwide now celebrate Mother’s Day on various dates and Prime Fresh Handling, hand in hand with Prime Logistics, deliver flowers across the globe for the individual observances.
Says Moscoso, “While any gift is appreciated, we know that many sons, daughters, spouses, and friends will likely choose to say ‘Happy Mother’s Day’ with flowers. I’m so pleased that, in many cases, Prime Fresh Handling will have helped to make that happen.”
Global Services
Whether it’s a box, a pallet, or a companywide logistics operation, Prime Fresh Handling is skilled in achieving safe on-time delivery of time- and temperature-sensitive products between any point of origin and destination around the world.
In fact, PFH is also known as a global leader in perishables transportation of fresh produce, fish, cut flowers, and plants — and vaccines and other pharmaceuticals, as well. With dedicated state-of-the-art facilities in Europe, South American, and across North America, PFH leverages industry-leading technologies such as vacuum cooling, sorting, re-packing, bar coding, labeling, and temperature and quality monitoring to guarantee a consistent, safe, and fresh delivery.
Contact Prime Fresh Handling
For information, contact PFH General Manager Cristina Moscoso at 323-328-8650, via email at cristina.moscoco@primeair.aero, or visit www.prime-fresh.com.