Washington state cherries and sweet onions will be available for loading in the coming weeks.
Cherry Shipments
It is more than two weeks away, but there should be plenty of loading opportunities with the arrival of near record Northwest cherry shipments. Northwest cherries, that is led by Washington state, but also includes Oregon, will start shipping in early June, with decent volume coming in late June for the Fourth of July. Estimates call for over 20 million boxes to be shipped this season, and possibly rival the record crop of 23 million boxes in 2012. Last year, the region shipped only 14.3 million boxes. The shipments this season will be the earliest start in four to five years.
Northwest cherry shippers expect to load 7 million boxes in June. Peak loadings will occur in July when 12 to 13 million boxes are expected to be shipped. In August, cherry loadings should hit 2 to 3 million boxes to end the season.
Walla Walla Onion Shipments
Temperatures were warming up in the Walla Walla River Valley during April and that is good news for owner operators, small fleet owners and otherswho annually haul Walla Wala onions, grown on about 600 acres.
Volume is forecast to be normal from the area, which usually ships around 1,000 40-pound units per acre. That translates into around 600,00 cartons being loaded each season. Shipments should get underway towards the end of June and run through mid-August.
Yakima Valley apples and pears – grossing about $7,000 to New York City.