MIAMI, Feb. 09, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --
- 89 Million Flowers Flow Through UPS’s Global Logistics Network
- Last Minute Cupids Can Ship as Late Monday, February 13th
Business is blooming leading up to Valentine’s Day. To get flowers, sweets and gifts to consumers and businesses by Feb. 14 it takes a global logistics network helping Cupid. This year, it’s estimated that UPS (NYSE:UPS) will deliver more than 89 million flowers – enough to fill 64 767 Boeing cargo aircraft – to loved ones around the world.
According to the National Retail Federation, U.S. consumers are projected to spend $2 billion on flowers and more than $18 billion on Valentine’s Day gifts.
Many of the tropical flowers and roses originate in Latin America, primarily Colombia and Ecuador. More than 90% of the imported flowers will travel through Miami International Airport (MIA), where UPS is the largest air cargo carrier.
Click here to see how UPS transports flowers from farm-to-consumer in less than two days.
“Meeting our customers’ needs is at the heart of what we do,” said Domingo Mendez, Air Cargo marketing manager, UPS Americas Region. “We understand shipping flowers is a time-sensitive business. We’re adding 34 temperature-controlled flights to deliver the 236,000 boxes of blooms expected to flow through our network in the two weeks prior to Valentine’s Day.”
Vistaflor operates a flower farm in Colombia and depends on UPS to deliver flowers fast. “We need to provide our customers with the freshest flowers, so the less time in transit, the better,” said Victoria Hernandez, sales director at Vistaflor.
The flowers stay fresh in a refrigerated warehouse about the size of five basketball courts located in the UPS® Air Cargo facility in Miami, where they are inspected and sorted for travel to their final destinations.
Procrastinators can ship as late as Monday, Feb. 13 using UPS Next Day Air® to have gifts arrive on Valentine’s Day. Click here for the UPS Valentine’s Day Shipping Calendar.
For images and video of UPS’s flowers logistics shipping process from farm to customer, please visit pressroom.ups.com
About UPS
UPS (NYSE: UPS) is a global leader in logistics, offering a broad range of solutions including transporting packages and freight; facilitating international trade, and deploying advanced technology to more efficiently manage the world of business. Headquartered in Atlanta, UPS serves more than 220 countries and territories worldwide. The company can be found on the web at ups.com® and its corporate blog can be found at longitudes.ups.com. To get UPS news direct, visit pressroom.ups.com/RSS or follow @UPS_News on Twitter.