Transporting flower bulbs is a specialty in itself

"About 80% of all flower bulbs outside Europe are transported by us", says Mark Woertman of Denkers BV. This company is a major player in fresh transport by sea and especially in flower bulbs. In line with this, they are also specialized in another, but related industry: the transport of machines for in and around the greenhouse.

 

Bulb trade is definitely a global affair: many products come from South America, Australia and New Zealand, but there is no continent that is not involved. So it is no wonder that the company is present at the large floricultural fairs worldwide (like recently at the Proflora in Bogota, Colombia and the IFTF in Vijfhuizen, the Netherlands).

Denkers has very close ties with three countries in particular in South America: Chile, Brasil and Colombia. The first two, simply because there are a lot of customers over there and the countries are big importers and exporters of flower bulbs. And Colombia, because since five years ago, they have entered into a partnership with Internacional S.A. in Colombia, a company that mainly trades in fruit and vegetables, a sector in which Denkers is also very active.

Transporting fresh produce is a specialty in itself, and that also applies to flower bulbs. "For example, a container with lily bulbs takes 16 days from the Netherlands to Colombia, they have to be kept at the right temperature, the humidity and the ventilation must be individually and precisely controlled. And then you still have the phenomenon of early and late harvest. In short, it is quite complicated. You can also transport fish or, say something unusual, horses around the world, but that is something that you should not let us do. We have knowledge of flower bulbs, which is why the flower bulbs trade knows how to find us."

How the transport of containers full of flower bulbs around the world has developed over the years, is perhaps less exciting than one might suspect. "That market is pretty steady. In recent years, one country (say Japan or Vietnam) is declining somewhat and the other country (say China or Colombia) is increasing a bit, but in general there is not much change. At the same time, it does not really matter to us: we transport, and whether it is from A to B or vice versa, is irrelevant."

Next to shipping bulbs, Denkers also ships machines for in and around the greenhouse. "A grower installs a new processing line for his cut flowers, for example. The companies that produce these machines are often Dutch companies- think of Havatec, Bercomex, Total Systems. For both parties it is then easiest to engage us, because then the chain becomes shorter."