Momentum is gathering in East Africa to move the transport of fresh produce - flowers, fruit, and vegetables - from air to sea freight.

The modal shift is viewed by exporters, industry bodies, and support groups as a bold but necessary step on the path to enhancing trade resilience in the region, as well as contributing to cost optimization and environmental sustainability.

In Kenya, the fresh produce sector is aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and take a bigger share of the global export market by improving its competitiveness. A key element in the initiative is an air-to-sea shift for transportation.

The fact that an estimated 90% of all Kenyan flowers - the country’s flagship export - are shipped by plane demonstrates just how much perishables exporters in East Africa depend on air cargo. However, capacity shortages are frequent, especially during peak season periods, leading to sharp hikes in freight rates, which in turn put severe pressure on growers’ margins. Airlines switching to more lucrative routes also contribute to the squeeze in capacity.

Redefining Future of Perishables Exports

The EU-funded Business Environment and Export Enhancement (BEEEP) Programme initiative, supported by the governments of the Netherlands and Denmark, has drawn up a ‘Masterplan for greater transition of horticultural exports from air to sea freight’.

It pictures over 80% of fruit being exported by sea by 2030, resulting in a significant 32% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Such targets are in line with growing support for sustainable horticultural practices.

In July this year, under the auspices of BEEEP and hosted by TradeMark Africa, a leading air-for-trade organization, a Logistics Working Group of industry leaders met over three days to redefine the future of fresh cargo exports across East Africa.

At the heart of the discussions was the transition of perishable exports from air to sea freight.

Following successful pilot shipments via sea, the Group has set out a plan of action with strategic objectives; the finalization of SLAs and KPIs to “institutionalize” performance, quality, and accountability across the export chain; the clear alignment between private sector, regulators and development partners to resolve cold chain, port, and policy challenges; and the commitment to scale sea freight as a viable, sustainable logistics channel for horticultural exports.

“As one attendee put it: “This shift is not just operational – it is a strategic transformation in how we connect East African produce to global markets. It is about reducing carbon footprint, improving margins for exporters, and ensuring long-term trade competitiveness.”

Ethiopian Avocado Exports

Meanwhile, Ethiopia has embarked on a major project to transform its horticultural sector by moving avocado exports from “costly” air freight to more sustainable and high-volume sea freight.

The Centre for the Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries (CBI) is playing a central role in the project, which has already led to the publication of the Avocado Export Guide, a tool designed to standardize export processes and help domestic, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) adapt to global maritime freight systems.

Milco Rikken, business export coach for fresh fruits and vegetables at the CBI and owner of Netherlands-based market research and trade development specialist, ProVerde BV, emphasized that transitioning to sea freight is one of the key objectives.

“To my knowledge, there are no official figures that give the precise modal share of air and sea for all Ethiopian horticultural exports. For now, I would estimate that high-value perishable exports (including flowers, many fresh vegetables, and premium fruit) remain predominantly air-freighted today,” he told AJOT in an interview.

Test Shipments

Rikken explained that the transformation project also makes provision to carry out test shipments by sea, which are likely to take place in 2026.

“These are controlled pilot consignments of avocado (and possibly other selected perishables) exported from Ethiopia to target markets in Europe and to buyers in the Gulf states. They typically include a selection of properly packed and matured fruit from one or several participating farms, which are packed and pre-cooled at a farm packhouse or an inland packing facility. These products will then load into a refrigerated (reefer) container with pre-set temperature and atmosphere profiles and transported by rail/truck to the Port of Djibouti for onward vessel stowage. Upon arrival at import hubs in Europe and the Gulf, inspection and final distribution will take place.”

The test shipments aim to validate the best practices set out in the Avocado Export Guide and, based on real transit conditions, learn about topics such as logistics, shelf-life performance, phytosanitary procedures, documentation, and commercial viability (costs, transit time, damage rates).

“In the end, we want to obtain buyer acceptance and develop sustained long-term sea transportation routes for the growing Ethiopian fruit and vegetables sector.”

Advances in Reefer Technology

The major advantage of air transport for perishables cargo is obviously speed and a relatively short cool chain. Fruit and vegetables leaving on flights from Ethiopia and Kenya can arrive at airports in Europe after flights of around 8-10 hours, and on board have been kept fresh in controlled temperature containers. Compare that with ocean shipping, where transit times are a matter of weeks.

However, reefer container technology has progressed to such an extent that even the most sensitive fruit and vegetables can be kept fresh during lengthy journeys by ship.

“Technical advances have made reefers far more capable. Modern reefers offer precise temperature control, improved air-flow designs, humidity control, and digital monitoring (IoT sensors, remote alarms). There are also controlled-atmosphere (CA) and modified-atmosphere (MA) solutions for some fruits that slow ripening in transit.

These technologies mean that many sensitive products (including avocados if packed and staged correctly) can survive the longer sea transit and arrive in good condition. It is critical that the whole chain (pre-cooling, packing, container settings, stowage, and handling) is professional and continuous. One can point to successful sea transportation routes for fruit and vegetables from other countries.

But surely benefiting from such value-added technology comes at a relatively high price to exporters?

“Yes and no,” Rikken observed. “The advanced technology (specialist reefers, CA/MA solutions, high-quality packing and monitoring) raises per-container costs compared with the simplest reefer containers, but these costs are normally much lower than air freight on a per-kg basis once volumes are sufficient.

“The economics depend on packhouse efficiency, container lease or purchase terms, and utilization of the reefer (full container loads reduce unit cost). Sea freight often becomes more cost-effective for medium to large volumes and gives the exporter a better margin per box than air. The pilot tests are therefore essential to show real landed costs and buyer prices.”

Cool Port Development

A vital component of the air-to-sea freight strategy in Ethiopia is the Cool Port Addis hub currently under construction at the country’s main inland port.

“It can be a key enabler of any large-scale air-to-sea transition in Ethiopia. It will provide pre-cooling, cold storage, packing, controlled atmosphere services and an integrated rail/truck link to the Port of Djibouti,” enthused Rikken.

“These are all important services that exporters must have if they are to ship by sea reliably. The project is backed by Dutch partners. I visited the facility myself at the end of November and witnessed that the project is progressing from feasibility to construction phases.”

As to when modal shift might begin to turn significantly in favor of sea freight, at least for Ethiopian fruit and vegetable exports, Rikken believes this will depend on several inter-connected developments: the operational capacity on offer when the Cool Port Addis opens; reliable multimodal connections to Djibouti; and onward shipping schedules, predictable transit times and costs, regulatory/inspection predictability, and sufficient available export volumes.

“If the Cool Port and other cold-chain investments operate well and the planned test shipments (and follow-up commercial voyages) succeed, the transition could gather real momentum within about 2 to 5 years. That is a pragmatic estimate: early commercial sea freight growth might be visible in the shorter term, 2 years, for specific products/companies. But as for a broad structural shift away from air for the whole sector, 3 to 5 years is more likely.