Harwich International Port is expecting a bumper crop of flowers across its quay this week in the run-up to Mothers’ Day on 26th March.
Traditionally, volumes of roll-on/roll-off traffic at the Essex port have increased significantly around this time of year due to the influx of flowers, as well as plants, coming in from Holland for Mothers’ Day. Harwich International Port is this year expecting up to an additional 300 vehicles to import flowers and plants on the Hook of Holland – Harwich route to supply the nation’s mothers with their favourite gifts.
Chris Lewis, chief executive officer of Hutchison Ports (UK), which owns Harwich International Port, said: “Harwich International Port is one of the UK’s leading ports for roll-on/roll-off traffic, with excellent links to the Netherlands via the Stena Line Hook of Holland service. Because of our strategic location and competitive transit times, we have seen this seasonal trend at Harwich for some years now; volumes of trailers containing flowers and plants start to rise in the lead up to Valentine’s Day, and continue to perform strongly through Mothers’ Day to the Easter period.”
Harwich International Port sees a peak of up to 2,000 lorries coming in on the Hook of Holland service in the week immediately prior to Mothering Sunday each year. These lorries arrive from the flower and plant growing regions of Holland, namely Aalsmeer, south of Schipol, and Westland, near to the Hook.
