Posts Tagged “Cranberry Network”
Thanksgiving will be here before you know it (November 22) and that means a lot of fresh cranberries will be shipped in the weeks ahead.
Wisconsin accounts for about 55 to 60 percent of the nation’s cranberry shipments, which includes not only fresh, but
Ray E. Habelman and Ray J. Habelman
processed, juices, etc. The Badger state has about 20,000 acres of cranberry bogs.
Wisconsin produces over 4.3 million 100-pound barrels, while the nation as whole with produces over 7.2 million 100-pound barrels.
The fresh fruit side of the market is still a relatively small portion of the overall USA shipments, accounting for about 300,000 barrels.
A truckload of fresh cranberries typically amounts to about 42,000 pounds in a 53-foot refrigerated trailer, according to Nate Voit, general manager of Service Trans Inc., of Bancroft, WI.
Service Trans arranges about 7,800 loads per year, with about 99 percent of those loads requiring refrigeration. Nate says the company specializes in time sensitive shipments. Of those 7,800 loads, about 800 are with cranberries. Concerning the transportation of fresh cranberries, he describes it as different from most items.
“The cranberry shipments usually come on short notice, and it is high volume for a short period of time,” Nate says.
There are about a dozen growers in Wisconsin producing cranberries for the fresh market. While cranberry shipments from Wisconsin have been underway for a few weeks, the real push will come about November 1st for Thanksgiving, according to Nigel Cooper, a principal in The Cranberry Network of Wisconsin Rapids, WI, who markets cranberrys for the nation’s largest fresh shipper, Habelman Bros. Co.
Although the big push is before Thanksgiving, the company started the tradition of extending the season to include fruit for the Christmas holidays.
Canadians celebrate their Thanksgiving each year in October (this year its October 8) and cranberry loadings destined for Candian markets are among the first each year.