Mother’s Day Operations Update: Airport, Port Activity, and IEEPA Refunds

Airport Operations:

During the Mother’s Day season, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) added additional inspectors, helping achieve an average response time of 1 hour and 49 minutes, exceeding the operational goal of 2 hours.

This year there was a slight decrease in total flower stem volume compared to last year:

• 9.6 million stems this year

• 9.87 million stems last year

• Overall decrease of approximately 2%

Inspection activity remained significant throughout the season:

• 110,941 boxes were inspected

• 87,644 boxes, or 79%, contained flowers

• 957 pests were found during inspections

• Approximately 60% of the pests identified were actionable

• 667 Emergency Action Notifications (EANs) were issued

Port Operations:

Port activity experienced substantial growth this Mother’s Day season.

A total of 405 containers arrived carrying approximately 61.7 million stems.

For comparison, last year’s Mother’s Day season saw:

• 298 containers

• Approximately 42 million stems

The increase in both container volume and stem count reflects continued growth in ocean freight utilization within the floral supply chain.

IEEPA Refunds:

Last week, importers began receiving refunds through the Phase 1 implementation of the IEEPA refund process.

According to early feedback, the process appears to be functioning well so far.