Latin America’s perishables trade is entering a new phase, driven by tighter cold-chain controls, diversified gateway strategies, and stronger regulatory alignment across borders. The region’s leading export corridors – from Colombia and Ecuador’s flower sectors to Peru and Chile’s seafood industries and Central America’s produce belts – depend on predictable lift and rapid onward connectivity.
Multiple US gateways, including George Bush Intercontinental Airport, O’Hare International Airport, and Newark Liberty International Airport, have become structural nodes in this trade, enabling flexible routings and reducing reliance on a single transit point. For exporters, this translates into shorter transit times and reduced spoilage exposure, particularly during peak seasons when margins are most sensitive to delay. The network effect is cumulative: diversified gateways help maintain continuity even when weather, congestion, or operational disruption affect individual hubs.
“United Cargo operates a highly optimized perishables network across Latin America, supported by a dense schedule and multiple U.S. gateway options—such as Houston (IAH), Chicago (ORD), Newark (EWR), and key coastal hubs—that enable flexible routings and resilient connections,” Freddy Davila, Sales Manager Latin America at United Airlines Cargo, said.
“This breadth of gateway coverage reduces dependency on a single transit point, helping shorten overall transit times and maintain service continuity during disruptions. In practice, this supports core perishables export markets including Colombia (Bogotá) and Ecuador (Quito) for flowers, Peru (Lima) and Chile (Santiago) for seafood/fresh foods, and Central America lanes such as Guatemala and Costa Rica for produce. Cold-chain integrity is managed end-to-end via United Cargo’s temperature-controlled handling capabilities (e.g., controlled storage and monitored TempControl processes), keeping shipments within required temperature bands—directly lowering spoilage risk while protecting access to key export hubs.”
Seasonality remains one of the defining characteristics of Latin America’s perishables trade. Flower peaks around Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, seafood surges aligned with Northern Hemisphere demand cycles, and concentrated fruit harvests compress booking demand into narrow windows.
Capacity allocation models must flex rapidly between temperature-controlled perishables and general cargo to avoid bottlenecks. The ability to pre-plan uplift ahead of harvest cycles has become a decisive competitive factor, particularly where yield management intersects with strict shelf-life constraints.
“Temperature-controlled capacity is managed as part of an ecosystem rather than a single, uniform product, allowing United Cargo to flex capacity by commodity, lane, and season. Utilisation rises significantly during peak harvest cycles, particularly in major flower and produce seasons, when booking demand compresses into short time windows and connection reliability becomes most critical,” Davila stated. “To manage this seasonality, United Cargo pre-aligns operating plans with stations and handlers, protects capacity on high-priority perishables lanes, and dynamically allocates space between perishables and general cargo based on real-time demand and product requirements.”
Emerging segments
Looking ahead, growth in Latin America’s perishables exports is expected to be driven not only by traditional commodities but also by higher-value segments such as organic produce, specialty fruits, and premium horticulture. These categories demand stricter temperature bands, faster booking confirmation, and greater real-time visibility, raising the operational bar across the supply chain. Investment in digital tracking and proactive capacity planning before harvest peaks will be critical to supporting these segments at scale. As the trade diversifies, the ecosystem supporting it must evolve in parallel, balancing yield optimisation with uncompromised freshness.
“To accelerate growth in Latin America’s perishables market, United Cargo is reinforcing its most critical corridors with optimized schedules and seamless connectivity to safeguard freshness from origin to destination. At the same time, the company is elevating the customer experience through faster booking processes and real-time shipment visibility, which are vital differentiators for time-sensitive freight,” he concluded. “Commercially, United Cargo is deepening partnerships across the value chain, from growers and exporters to forwarders, with a targeted push in fast-growing segments such as organic produce, specialty fruits, and premium horticulture. Proactive capacity planning ahead of harvest seasons anchors this approach, securing lift early and minimizing risk during high-demand periods. Combined with continued ecosystem investments, these actions position United Cargo to become the partner of choice for Latin America’s most demanding perishables exporters.”
The post United Cargo capitalised on Latin America’s perishables trade appeared first on Air Cargo Week.
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Author: Edward Hardy
