"We anticipate one of the busiest floral seasons in recent years"

C.H. Robinson is helping customers navigate a busier kick-off to the floral season including leveraging a new farm-to-store floral program in Latin America to enhance its end-to-end temp-controlled supply chain solutions for retailers.

Nearly 70% of florals annually move during the three-month period from Valentine's Day to Mother's Day, a surge posing challenges for shippers due to the globally sourced, perishable nature of the product and limited temperature-controlled transportation and storage. And the floral industry continues to expand—reaching $9.5 billion in retail sales last year, a 47% increase over five years, according to Circana.

With 7-10 million boxes of flowers moved annually, C.H. Robinson already has the largest temperature-controlled capacity network in North America and the\ expertise to enable fast, seamless hand-offs across multiple transportation modes, quick pivots in times of disruption, and efficiencies that drive down costs. Its newly enhanced consolidation program locally in Colombia and Ecuador, where 95% of all flowers are sourced, further strengthens its reach across these key origin markets, offering an additional competitive advantage for shippers.

"With Valentine's Day on a Friday, strong early demand, and favorable weather, we anticipate one of the busiest floral seasons in recent years," said Jose Rossignoli, President, Robinson Fresh. "Today, C.H. Robinson provides a multitude of services for retail, grocery, and growers alike to support the 2,500% surge in floral volumes ahead of Valentine's Day. We are in a great position to help our customers navigate the uptick and any changes or disruptions they may face along the way."

C.H. Robinson's specialized temp-controlled services incorporate air freight including from Ecuador and Colombia —the world's largest floral hub—directly into a temperature-controlled warehouse on the Miami International Airport tarmac, refrigerated trucking capacity, and direct-to-store deliveries to over 7,500 U.S. retail locations. Supported by 24/7 operations and real-time shipment visibility, these capabilities are critical for the rapid transport of a product that begins to perish the moment it leaves the farm.

"Our full suite of end-to-end transportation services really sets C.H. Robinson apart, especially in projects like this that are incredibly sensitive to time – not only in the perishable sense but also working with a very short window when consumer demand is highest," said Michael Castagnetto, President of North American Surface Transportation at C.H. Robinson.