There’s big volume with Northwest produce shipments ranging from apples and pears, to potatoes and onions, providing a lot of loading opportunities.
Washington state each year ships about as many apples as all the other apple shipping states combined. And this is one of the state’s biggest volume crops. While pear volume is substantiably lower, it is still a good sized items. Both apples and pear shipments are originating out the Yakima and Wenachee valleys.
Washington state’s Columbia Basin along with the adjacent Umatilla Basin in nearby Oregon are moving good volumes of both potatoes and onions. Between these two areas, approximately 1,000 truck load equivalents are being shipped weekly.
Nobody grows and ships as many potatoes as Idaho – not even close. These guys are loading on average about 1,750 truck load equivalents each week.
With “hardware” items like these that are so promonient in the Northwest states, it makes for attractive hauls by the railroads, so you do have more competition from the rails here than from most areas. The rails also often offer a freight rates averaging around 10 to 15 percent less than trucks. But at the end of the day, trucks are still hauling over 95 percent of the nation’s fresh fruits and vegetables, although it’s a little less in places like Washington state and Idaho.