This morning we got up early and headed out to Aalsmeer the international Flower Market outside Amsterdam. Aalsmeer is a huge auction house that processes and auctions flowers from growers mostly in The Netherlands, before dispatching them onto the world market. We arrived about 7:30 and the auction and dispatch was well underway. Flora Holland the collective that runs the whole complex claim to handle 34.5 million blooms a day in over 100,000 transactions. The most popular flower types include roses, tulips, and hydrangeas.
Flora Holland claim to process the flowers in 90 minutes from receiving, through the auction process to dispatch. The whole process is automated and works like clockwork, as the trolleys of flowers move along the little railway lines. The employees ride the little Segway type machines that pick up pallets, break down the pallets, deliver flowers for each purchaser into set trolleys. Here process is amazing. We spent over 2 hours following various carts of blooms and watching the precision of the dispatch.
2 comments:
The picture of the team of operaters at computers is amazing. A bit different from when I worked in the office at Macfarlanes Flower Market in Christchurch in 1961. There were 5 of us in the office calculating what florists had to pay as the auction progressed. There 4 auctioneers calling out at any one time. The noise level during the auction was quite high and the perfume from the flowers was amazing. I imagine the scent in the place you visited was quite magical.
Did the scent of the flowers pervade the area?
Love the colours.
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