Cut Flowers, Middle East
Keeping blooms fresh
Wherever you go in the United Arab Emirates, from its luxurious hotels to its gleaming office buildings, you are likely to encounter stunning arrangements of fresh flowers. And the chances are high that they will have been supplied by Black Tulip Flowers.
Originally founded in Dubai in 1990, the family owned and operated company now employs more than 12,000 people in eight countries. The largest supplier and distributor of premium quality fresh cut flowers and indoor plants in the region, it also owns a number of flower farms in Kenya, from where it exports more than 350 tons of flowers all over the world each month.
Maintaining the Cold Chain
Temperature control is vital if flowers are to maintain their freshness throughout the supply chain. Once they are cut, they need to be quickly prepared, packed and chilled. In Kenya, the Group’s freight company exports more than 350 tons of blooms every month.
When the blooms are transported, the cold chain must be maintained. An increase in temperature of just a few degrees will mean the flowers will begin to wilt. At the Group’s Dubai hub, more than 2,500 varieties of cut flowers are kept fresh in a cold room using Güntner technology.
Delicate requirements
Black Tulip’s Dubai cold storage facility, built by Al Asrar Contracting, required cooling for both storage and processing areas. For the latter, Güntner Dual COMPACT Air Coolers were installed. Their special draught-reduced construction ensures a comfortable working climate for employees.
For the larger storage rooms, Güntner Cubic VARIO Air Coolers were used, while for the smaller rooms, Güntner Cubic COMPACT Air Coolers fitted the bill. Not only is the latter’s cubic design perfect for fitting into smaller rooms, but its adjustable fan speed also allows for a low rpm. This was essential in this instance, because while flowers need extensive air volume, the petals can be damaged by strong air flows. Al Asrar took great care to ensure the installation catered for these requirements.
Güntner Products
All of Güntner’s Air Coolers share a range of significant customer benefits:
- They use safe, easy-clean materials and coatings.
- They are constructed from high quality, durable materials and components, ensuring reliability and a long life.
- They avoid gaps and sharp edges for easy accessibility and to ensure no pockets of dirt can form.
- They work with all available refrigeration fluids and are optimized for use with natural refrigerants.
Two decades of reliability
Black Tulip Flowers has been using Güntner products across its global operations – wholesale, retail and farming – for more than 20 years to maintain the freshness and shelf life of its flowers.
As Syed Luqman Faraz, Regional Sales Manager, Güntner Middle East, puts it, as Black Tulip Flowers has kept growing, Güntner has kept growing alongside them.
“At Güntner, we’ve always identified ourselves as an engineering company that focuses on attention to all the delicate details, and that’s particularly important when it comes to keeping flowers fresh,” he says.
“Flowers are a way to share love, happiness and celebration, and it’s very heartwarming that our technology is helping to enable that.”