Royal FloraHolland Reflects on the 2026 Spring Peak

The spring peak is now behind us. For our members, buyers, growers and colleagues in logistics, this is one of the most important periods of the year. Despite our careful preparations, we at Royal FloraHolland have concluded that not everything went as well as we would have liked. On a number of peak days, buyers in Aalsmeer experienced later delivery times than they should reasonably expect from us. I find that extremely disappointing. Particularly on peak days, every minute counts.

Order picking not the cause

When trolleys are delivered later than planned, the work of buyers is delayed accordingly. Hauliers have to wait, processes come under pressure and commitments further along the supply chain become more difficult to meet. I understand that buyers naturally look at changes within Royal FloraHolland’s processes when completion times increase, especially on critical peak days.

There has been speculation within the sector that the transition to order picking caused delivery delays in Aalsmeer during the peak period. However, three-quarters of all flowers in Aalsmeer are still processed through the traditional distribution process. The delays on peak days were not specific to auction groups already handled via order picking. We observed similar delays in auction groups that continue to be processed through the existing distribution system.

For the later delivery of flowers in particular on several peak days in Aalsmeer, I do not see a single underlying cause. Rather, it was the result of a combination of factors:

• a continuing shift of supply volumes towards Aalsmeer;
• a growing number of transactions to be processed per incoming trolley;
• limits in the availability of logistics staff on peak days.

In particular, the combination of increased granularity per trolley and an incomplete peak-period workforce placed additional pressure on our logistics operation during peak days, which in turn affected completion times.

Scaling up staffing levels

In recent years, we have generally been successful in scaling up staffing levels during peak periods. This spring, however, that proved more challenging. In the Aalsmeer region, Royal FloraHolland faced stronger competition than before from other logistics employers, many of whom are able to offer full-time contracts more readily. Despite significant efforts to recruit additional permanent and temporary staff for the peak season, interest in part-time positions at Royal FloraHolland was insufficient, even though salaries remain in line with the market. Despite the support of many office-based colleagues who assisted as peak-period staff, the staffing gap remained. This challenge is not new and is visible throughout the wider supply chain. However, during this peak period, the scale of the issue became particularly apparent.