Archive For The “News” Category
Port of Los Angeles waterfront workers processed 955,907 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) in August, capping the busiest three consecutive months in Port history. More than 2.9 million TEUs moved across Port docks throughout June, July, and August.
August volume was 6% above the Port’s five-year average for the month and on par with last year.
“We’ve put together an exceptionally strong summer in Los Angeles,” said Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka. “Resilient consumer demand, early holiday shipments and a broad mix of cargo have all contributed to that strength.
“We’ve got good momentum heading into the final months of the year,” Seroka added. “September is shaping up to be another strong month, and Los Angeles is well positioned to respond as global trade patterns continue to evolve.”
During the Port’s monthly media briefing, Seroka said trans-Pacific freight rates to the West Coast favor East Coast routings, while the speed of moving cargo through Los Angeles and onto rail can make the overall economics attractive for importers serving markets across the country.
Joining Seroka for the briefing was Brian Dodge, President and CEO of the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), who said retailers remain optimistic about the holiday shopping season despite higher fuel costs, tariffs, and other economic pressures.
“We’ve had an incredibly resilient consumer over the course of the last several years through a variety of different disruptions, and the same seems to be the case right now as we head into the holiday shopping season,” Dodge said. He noted that a large share of holiday merchandise is already in the U.S. after retailers moved goods earlier this year amid uncertainty over fuel prices and other supply chain disruptions, while additional shipments will continue as retailers replenish inventories to meet consumer demand.
Loaded imports reached 500,302 TEUs in August, nearly even with last year and 7% above the five-year August average. Loaded exports totaled 115,561 TEUs, down 9% compared with last August. Empty containers totaled 340,044 TEUs, up 4% year over year.
During the first eight months of 2026, the Port handled just over 7 million TEUs, 1.5% ahead of the same period last year and 5% above its five-year pace.
The Panama Canal announced recently, through an Advisory to Shipping, it will increase to 10 the number of daily transits in the Neopanamax locks, for a total of 33 daily slots within Neopanamax and Panamax locks beginning October 15, based on the present and projected level of Gatun Lake.
Additionally, taking into consideration the positive effect of the close-to-average precipitation on the Canal watershed and the effective water-saving measures implemented in the Locks, effective immediately and until further notice, the maximum authorized draft for vessels transiting the Neopanamax locks will be 14.94 m (49.0 feet).
While the water deficit continues in the Canal watershed, the Transit Reservation (Booking) System remains the only way to guarantee a transit date. Vessels without a reservation may therefore face indefinite delays.
The Canal remains committed to closely monitoring water conditions and rainfall levels and to communicating any further adjustments in a timely manner, as circumstances allow.
California’s citrus acreage showed mixed changes across major categories in 2026, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture and USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. The report was released on August 5 following a survey of approximately 4,300 citrus growers.
Detailed acreage data show that lemons had 52,866 acres standing in 2026, comprising 51,803 bearing and 1,063 non-bearing acres. This compares with 52,725 total acres in 2024, when 49,770 acres were bearing, and 2,954 were non-bearing.
Navel and miscellaneous oranges remained the largest category, with 110,461 acres standing in 2026, including 108,587 bearing and 1,874 non-bearing acres. This was down from 112,366 total acres in 2024. Valencia orange acreage declined from 25,297 acres in 2024 to 24,589 acres in 2026.
Mandarins and hybrids totaled 68,536 acres in 2026, consisting of 66,802 bearing and 1,734 non-bearing acres, compared with 68,830 total acres in 2024. Among varieties, Tango accounted for 20,243 acres, including 19,383 bearing and 860 non-bearing acres. W. Murcott Afourer totaled 9,898 acres, while Clementines accounted for 15,500 acres.
Grapefruit acreage, excluding pummelos and hybrids, decreased from 9,053 acres in 2024 to 8,443 acres in 2026. Pummelos and hybrids moved in the opposite direction, increasing from 1,262 acres to 1,964 acres.
The statewide bearing acreage estimates for the 2024-25 season were 9,300 acres for grapefruit, 54,000 for lemons, 110,000 for Navel and miscellaneous oranges, 25,000 for Valencia oranges, and 68,000 for tangerines and mandarins. The report notes that these statewide estimates include an allowance for incomplete survey responses and therefore differ from the detailed acreage figures.
Two men have each been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison after more than 700 pounds (317.5 kg) of methamphetamine was found concealed in a tractor-trailer shipment of cucumbers outside a warehouse in Gainesville, Georgia.
DEA agents monitored the trailer on June 30, 2025, following information about a drug shipment. Andres Jasso Jr., 39, and Rufino Pineda-Perez, 61, were arrested beside the vehicle. A search of the commercial unit found 20 pallets of cucumber boxes containing thousands of individually wrapped packages of methamphetamine.
According to federal prosecutors, co-conspirators had instructed the two men to unload the boxes and separate the narcotics from the produce. Authorities did not disclose the shipment’s origin, sender, intended recipient, warehouse name, or trailer route.
Both men pleaded guilty on March 11 to conspiracy to possess methamphetamine with intent to distribute. Pineda-Perez also pleaded guilty to illegal reentry following a previous removal. Jasso was sentenced on July 17, while Pineda-Perez was sentenced Wednesday. Both will serve 10 years of supervised release following their prison terms.
The DEA led the investigation with assistance from the Georgia State Patrol, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and ICE.
The USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), June acreage forecast puts the 2026 potato planted area in the 13 surveyed U.S. States at 353,290.56567552 hectares, down 3 per cent from 2025. The reduction of 29,000 acres, or 11,735.88362496 hectares, would bring planted area to its lowest level since 1952 and mark a third consecutive year of reduced acreage.
The forecast is lower year over year in 8 of the 13 surveyed States. About half of this season’s reduction is expected in Idaho, where acreage is forecast to fall by 15,000 acres, or 6,070.2846336 hectares. Excluding Idaho, state-level reductions range from 1,000 acres, or 404.68564224 hectares, in California to 3,000 acres, or 1,214.05692672 hectares, in North Dakota. Nebraska has the largest percentage decline, with acreage down 10 per cent from 2025.
After reductions in 2025, planted area is forecast to remain unchanged in Washington, Oregon, Maine, and Florida. Texas is also forecast to remain at 15,000 acres, or 6,070.2846336 hectares, for the sixth consecutive year. Lower prices received by potato producers during the 2025/26 marketing year are identified as one factor behind the projected reduction.
The 2026 USDA, NASS acreage report estimates that 867,600 acres, or 351,105.26320742397 hectares, of the 873,000 planted acres will be harvested, reflecting an average abandonment rate of 0.6 per cent. The 2025 U.S. average yield increased 1 per cent from the previous year to 460 hundredweight (cwt) per acre.
Idaho’s seed potato acreage is also expected to decline. About 10 per cent of the State’s potato acres, or 29,300 acres (11,857.289317632 hectares), are forecast to be designated for seed production in 2026, about 2,000 acres below 2025. Idaho remains the leading State for certified seed potato production, with most acreage devoted to Russet-type varieties.
Florida’s commercial citrus acreage declined in 2026, while citrus output increased during the 2025-2026 season, according to two USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service reports released on August 27, 2026.
Total citrus acreage stands at 165,359 acres (66,919 hectares), down 21 per cent from the previous annual survey. The industry recorded a gross loss of 48,027 acres (19,436 hectares) and 5,200 acres (2,104 hectares) of new plantings, resulting in a net loss of 42,827 acres (17,332 hectares). In 2025, total citrus acreage was 208,186 acres (84,250 hectares).
Orange acreage declined 22 per cent to 143,650 acres (58,133 hectares). Valencia oranges account for 67 per cent of total orange acreage, while non-Valencia varieties represent 31 per cent. Grapefruit acreage decreased 10 per cent to 11,456 acres (4,636 hectares), while specialty fruit acreage declined 11 percent to 10,253 acres (4,149 hectares). Tangerines and tangelos account for 4,813 acres (1,948 hectares) of specialty citrus.
All 23 published counties recorded acreage declines. Polk County registered the largest reduction, losing 10,944 acres (4,429 hectares), but remained the leading county with 37,529 total acres (15,187 hectares). Highlands County followed with 34,671 acres (14,031 hectares).
Despite the reduction in acreage, Florida’s citrus crop increased during 2025-2026. All citrus output reached 15.7 million boxes, up 7 per cent from 14.7 million boxes in the previous season. Orange output increased 5 per cent to 13.0 million boxes. Non-Valencia oranges reached 4.77 million boxes, up 4 per cent, while Valencia oranges increased 7 per cent to 8.18 million boxes.
Grapefruit output increased 4 per cent to 1.35 million boxes. Tangerine and tangelo output was up 15 per cent from the previous season, while lemon output increased 34 per cent.
Polk was the largest citrus-producing county at 3.27 million boxes, followed by Highlands at 3.07 million boxes, Desoto at 1.66 million boxes, St. Lucie at 1.40 million boxes, and Hardee at 1.31 million boxes. Together, these counties accounted for 73 per cent of the state’s total citrus output.
An Analysis by the American Farm Burea measured against a 2010 baseline, reveals United States fresh fruit imports are up 69 percent by volume while domestic fruit production has fallen 32 percent. The two curves crossed in 2013 and have not converged since.
While U.S. domestic fruit production is decline, America’s population expanded by 10 percent.
Between 2020 and 2025, pesticide costs rose 25 percent, fuel 31 percent, fertilizer 37 percent, and labor close to 50 percent, while average cash expenses on specialty crop farms passed $466,000 in 2023, up 47 percent from 2021.
Fruit offers few tools for absorbing that: crops are perishable, harvest windows are short, storage is rarely an option, and there is no futures market to hedge a price collapse.
As domestic volume has contracted, imports have taken the space. Figures from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) show imports supplied 59 percent of US fresh fruit availability in 2023, up from 50 percent in 2007, leaving domestic sources at roughly 41 percent.
Much of that growth still fills genuine seasonal gaps, but the report’s crop-level analysis finds imports increasingly arriving earlier and staying later, a pattern USDA economists call market window creep, which concentrates competition in the early and late weeks when domestic growers have historically earned the prices that carry a season.
The AFBF’s conclusion is that trade remains necessary, but a shrinking domestic base leaves US fruit supply more exposed to weather, political instability, and food safety events abroad.
According to a monthly survey, the total number of apples in storage on Aug. 1, 2026, was 23 million bushels, seven percent less than last August’s total of 25 million bushels. Data are not yet available to calculate the July five-year average.
Michigan did not report holdings for August 2026. Michigan’s holdings two months ago (June 2026) were 1.3 million bushels. It is assumed that a portion of those apples remain. Michigan also did not report their storages in July 2026, so movement will not be inflated by unreported August holdings.
Fresh apple holdings this August totaled 16 million bushels, 13 percent less than the inventories reported for last August. Processing holdings totaled 7 million bushels, 11 percent more than last year on August 1.
Tamara Dardari ALC Marketing
As the seasons shift from summer to fall, the produce harvest undergoes a major transformation. Shipping lines transition from delicate summer fruits to autumn produce like apples, pears, cranberries, pumpkins, potatoes, squash, and many more delicious foods. This shift also creates regional capacity surges across the Pacific Northwest and Upper Midwest, where a lot of these crops originate. Along with this change comes a transition in the equipment used to transport these perishable goods. While fall fruits still require temperature control from refrigerated vans, many autumn vegetables can be safely transported in insulated dry vans. With vented air circulation, dry vans create a safe environment for moving perishables while reducing fuel costs compared to refrigerated trucks.
This balance between temperature control and efficiency is becoming increasingly critical as extreme heat waves across the contiguous U.S. cost the economy an estimated $18.5 billion annually. Compared to the damage that localized disasters like tornadoes or hurricanes cause, extreme heat affects a wide range of geographic regions for weeks at a time. For shippers moving fresh produce or frozen goods, this prolonged exposure makes it difficult to find reliable refrigerated equipment. This matters because shippers must find trustworthy, vetted carriers with high-performing refrigerated units, pre-cooling compliance, and modern technology.
Since the summer heat doesn’t seem to be ending with fall approaching, it is important to know what measures to take to keep your trucks and freight in the best condition. Protecting perishable cargo starts with strict pre-cooling protocols that ensure the trailer reaches its optimal set-point temperature before loading. Carriers must complete thorough pre-trip equipment inspections and verify proper cargo spacing to maintain continuous airflow throughout the trailer. By combining disciplined prep work with routine in-transit temperature monitoring, drivers can detect heat spikes early, safeguard product quality, and ensure on-time, damage-free deliveries through late-season heatwaves.
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Tamara Dardari graduated from Chapman University in May of 2025 with a BA in Strategic and Corporate Communication and a minor in Creative and Cultural Industries. She started her career with the Allen Lund Company in the Marketing department last October.
tamara.dardari@allenlund.com