Perishables bear fruit: Why air cargo shouldn’t fear modal shift

Perception is reality

The speed of air cargo can also give shippers the opportunity to have more precise control over how their products are perceived. “Airfreight offers the customers perishable goods with a ‘natural maturity,’” Dehio said. “As a fruit will be harvested at a later stage of ripeness than a fruit transported by seafreight, the airfreight product can be sold and bought as ‘ready-to-eat,’ which makes a difference in quality and taste.”

For these kinds of products that are essentially still alive and ripening slowly during transport, known as climacteric fruit (apples, bananas, melons, apricots, tomatoes, and others), K+N’s Solano said the savvy shipper can plan to stagger air deliveries based on their customers’ tastes. For example, she said, “Germans tend to like the sour, unripe papayas, but those in the Netherlands like riper ones.”

This can further help shippers differentiate their air-carried products from those that have been chemically treated to delay ripening for long ocean voyages. “Consumer decisions are either taste- or price driven,” Dehio explained. “There is a noticeable consumer trend to healthy products, and consumers are becoming increasingly critical of ‘treated’ goods.”

As a result, Dehio said there’s been “an increase in purchasing behavior for high-end quality food, where consumers perceive ‘air flown’ as fresher, and prefer a ripening process on the plant as long as possible as opposed to ripening during transportation.”

Of course, there are limits to this strategy, too, said CFI’s Connell.

“There’s no such thing as a golden strawberry” that’s going to save an air carrier’s market share. “People won’t pay a lot more for airfreight-delivered perishables. We have seen certain markets trade down, normally, to take slightly less quantities for a slightly lower price. The middle class still wants to save money and has the ability to trade down. And once they’re gone, they probably won’t be coming back.”

To some extent, this manipulation of their customers’ expectations may have gone too far, “as many consumers expect to see certain commodities in the shelves on a regular basis as opposed to accepting a seasonal availability,” Dehio added. Roses from Kenya are not just sold on Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day and berries and mangoes that should last a few weeks or months are now expected year-round. The key, however, is that “air flown” mangoes are sold at higher retail prices, he said.

Back in Spain, Coma, of Fruits de Ponent, said he appreciates being empowered to think more strategically with his airfreighted flat peaches. “It allows us to collaborate in marketing campaigns with retailers,” he said. “As a new product, with not big quantities, the flat peach is difficult to plan in terms of buying, because you don’t know how customers will react. Airfreight allows us to react immediately to demand.”

The types of fruit that will be most attractive will be the ready-to-eat ones, “with excellent organoleptic conditions” (affecting all the senses), he said. They are “picked from the trees in the best conditions and delivered to the stores in a very short time between the optimal picking moment and when the consumer eats it.”

Shippers should focus on these competitive differences and try to encourage the carriers to continue sharing advantages that only air cargo offers, Coma said, including a really short transit time.

“As our production of flat peaches has grown, our air cargo has, as well,” he added. “Airfreight allows us to bring fresh fruit a long way.”

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