Royal FloraHolland is winding down the FHS activities in Naaldwijk out of necessity and intends to stop as of 1 January 2024. “In view of the 2024 peak, we will not manage to offer high-quality FHS services at acceptable rates. Given the importance of FHS services to the Naaldwijk hub, we actively encourage FHS services in Naaldwijk to continue in other ways. The existing space and machinery, we offer for rent so that other party(ies) can start in Naaldwijk. There is concrete interest in this”, the auction says.
“As we stand now and with an eye on the workload for the 2024 peak, we will not succeed in offering our international growers high-quality FHS services at acceptable rates. Operational costs continue to rise. FHS’ labour costs are substantially higher than other comparable service providers due to our collective labour agreement and make it impossible to continue offering services cost-effectively. Royal FloraHolland has therefore unfortunately had to decide to wind down FHS’ operations with the intention of closing FHS as of 1 January.”
Space and machinery for rent
Many international growers use the FHS services in Naaldwijk when preparing their products for sale, especially for the clock. “Given the importance of FHS activities for our growers and the Naaldwijk hub, we are therefore actively pursuing continuation in another form. Initially, the possibility of cooperation was explored with several parties. Valstar Handling was concretely interested. After several open and constructive talks, the difference in operations proved too great to continue the operation in cooperation. After 1 January, we are now offering space and machinery for rent so that one or more parties can take over operations. There is concrete interest in this. Royal FloraHolland’s aim is to ensure that growers using unpacking services can continue to do so and buyers can continue to rely on the wide range in Naaldwijk.”
Warm transfer
Growers looking for a new unpacker can rely on RFH’s International Account Management team. ” They know the various unpackers, also know which unpacker might want to start in Naaldwijk, and can advise which unpacker would best suit the grower. FHS’ relationship managers will then ensure a warm transfer to the new service provider.”
Source: Royal FloraHolland