It’s going to be a roll of the dice if you are hoping to haul desert vegetables from Arizona’s Yuma district, or out of the desert in nearby California. Mother Nature has played havoc with various winter vegetables as the weather was original too warm, followed by three weeks of cold weather recently.
It was way too warm in November and December, then freezing weather hit after that. The result has been shipping gaps on virtually all vegetables.
Although vegetable loadings should become a little more consistent as we enter February, expect lighter volume overall and some probable quality issues right on through when the desert shipments end in a couple of months or so.
Be sure and see what you are loading and make sure whose paying the freight knows the quality, condition and appearance of the veggies going into your reefer.
Needles to say it’s going to be a rough road through the end of March when vegetable shipments seasonally start shifting to the Huron district in the San Joaquin Valley of California. After about a month or so in Huron, vegetable shipmetns will shift to the Salinas Vallley. There’s all the Oxnard and Santa Maria areas which have light vegetables shipments year around, but increase in volume the arrival of spring.
But even the coastal areas just mentioned are having even lighter than normal shipments due to the cold – with volume down as much as 25 percent.
You might have better luck loading Southern California strawberries, which seem to have avoid serious frost damage.
Still a little more mysterious is the availability of citrus from the San Joaquin Valley. Damage estimates are still being made, although if you load oranges look for ice markings on the outer skin.
Although it is no record, California’s navel shipments this season are predicted to hit 93 million cartons, which is still a lot of loads. Damage to mandarins is expected to be higher than with navels. Also produce haulers should be concerned since valencia oranges, which will be shipped after the navels are finished, could start showing damage several months from now.
Southern California citrus and berries – grossing about $4600 to Atlanta.