In the run-up to Valentine's Day, PortMiami handled records in flower imports by Ocean cargo.
PortMiami closed 2021 with a record number of imported flower stems, 256.7 million were imported during the year. That's the largest volume of flower stems imported in a 12-month period, increasing by 66% from the year before, equaling 101.7 million stems on top of the volume of 2020.
However, a new record for imported flower stems in one month was set this January, which saw 51,934,638 flower stems flowing in, just in time for Valentine's 2022. This record was previously held by January 2020 with 40.9 million stems.
TEU Volumes
In 2021, PortMiami received 2,407 TEUs of cut flowers, making it the largest port destination of cut flowers in the U.S. This quantity equals a 109% volume increase over the 2020 TEU volume of 1,154 TEUs.
In value, during 2021 PortMiami received $38,4 Million dollars in cut flowers, up from $17.5 million it received in 2020.*
Air Freight
So far so good, but ocean cargo still pales in comparison with air fright. In the days and weeks leading up to Valentin'es Day, an average of 300,000 flower stems arrive at Miami International Airport every day. From January 1 to February 15, MIA projects that a total of 1.4 billion flower stems will have landed, a 17-percent increase over the same period in 2021. The surge in flower power follows a six-percent increase in imports at MIA during last year’s peak season compared to 2020.
MIA receives 91 percent of all flowers imported to the U.S., primarily from South America, for a total of more than 236,000 tons valued at nearly $1.2 billion annually. (source)
*Stats with courtesy of Marco A. Frieri, Global Trade & Business Development at PortMiami