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(This is a press release from the California Construction Trucking Association. Although the group represents truckers such as dump truck haulers and others, these rules will also adversely affect produce truckers and most other types of haulers.)
Upland, CA. – The California Construction Trucking Association (CCTA) has filed a Notice of Appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in its nearly two-year-long legal case against the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) heavy-duty, on-road truck and bus regulation (CDTOA v. CARB, Case No. 2:11-CV-00384-MCE-GGH).
The CARB diesel engine regulation will ultimately force the replacement of most diesel powered commercial motor vehicles that do not meet 2010 EPA emissions standards in order to operate in the State of California. Despite claims used to justify this regulation by regulators and environmental groups that public grant funding is readily available to assist truckers in complying – this is not true. Small-business truckers are bearing the brunt of the multi-billion dollar expense to unnecessarily replace trucks originally built and certified to EPA emissions standards.
The CCTA originally filed its litigation to CARB’s diesel engine regulation in March 2011 stating the state regulation is pre-empted by the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (FAAAA) which prohibits states from enacting any law, rule, or regulation affecting the price, routes, or services of motor carriers. The NRDC intervened by presenting a Gordian Knot legal theory that CARB’s regulation was not actually a state regulation but effectively a federal regulation when the EPA hurriedly approved the California State Implementation Plan (SIP) in 2012 containing the challenged truck and bus regulation – a year after litigation began.
In December 2012, the U.S. District Court issued a decision that the EPA was an “indispensable party” to the litigation resulting from EPA approval of the SIP and that the court no longer retained jurisdiction. No decision was made on the merits of CCTA’s original legal argument. The CCTA will appeal this decision.
Additionally, the CCTA will file a Petition for Review with the Ninth Circuit challenging EPA’s approval of the SIP since the Clean Air Act prohibits EPA from approving a SIP in conflict with other federal law. CCTA believes the approval is in conflict with the FAAAA and commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Separately, the CCTA is being represented by the Pacific Legal Foundation in another action challenging the process used by the EPA in approving CARB’s off-road diesel engine rules.
Read an open letter the trucking industry titled “Why We Should Continue to Fight.”
http://calcontrk.org/industry/carb/1027-cdtoa-vs-arb
About the CCTA
The California Construction Trucking Association (formerly known as the California Dump Truck Owners Association) is a 501 (c) (6) trade association founded in 1941 and headquartered in Upland, California. CCTA membership consists of over 1,100 member motor carriers ranging in size from one-truck owner-operators to fleets with over 350 trucks. CCTA members operate in multiple modes of trucking from vocational trucking to property carrying in both intrastate and interstate commerce.
Contact:
Joe Rajkovacz
Director of Governmental Affairs &
Communications
California Construction Trucking Association &
Western Trucking Alliance
+1 909 982 9898
joe@calcontrk.org
Storage supplies of onions from the Northwest are as low as they have been in many years. Whether we are talking Idaho, Oregon or Washington state, storage onions and shipments are well below the levels from four years ago. In fact, there are 10 million pounds fewer onions than in 2009.
If you are in the Northwest, apples and pears, especially from Washington state, are in much better supply, plus usually pay a better freight rate better than onions. Idaho has more potatoes than it knows what to do with, so they are moving a lot spuds.
California
Asparagus shipments are originating primarily from the Delta region of the San Joaquin Valley, although volume has really declined in the past 10 years or so.
In the year 2000, San Joaquin County alone shipped over 63 million pounds of asparagus from 23,600 acres harvested. By 2011, county plantings had fallen to 6,400 acres. The year, available loads are expected to be similar to last year, about 36 million pounds on 11,000 to 12,000 acres statewide.
The Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo is May 5th and record avocado shipments of avocados are being predicted leading up to this event. California loadings will be going full bore during April as the state expects to ship about 87.3 million pounds of avocados – just for Cinco de Mayo! In total, about 515 million pounds of avocados should be transported in 2013. This would be one of biggest crops on record.
Texas
Lower Rio Grande Valley sweet onion shipments are normally peaking right now, but 2013 is shaping up for Texas to be more like 2007, as there will be less volume this season.
I was on the Atlanta State Farmers Market last week and talked with a trucker who was being unloaded. He had onions on a flatbed trailer. He’d just arrived from South Texas. However, onion loads will be off sharply this year from Texas and Mexico. In south Texas you probably will have better luck getting Mexican produce items ranging from veggies to tropical fruits, as well as Lower Rio Grade Valley citrus.
South Texas produce – grossing about $2700 to Atlanta.
Southern California avocados, berries, citrus – about $6800 to New York City.
Idaho potatoes – about $2800 to Chicago.
Yakima Valley apples and pears – about $4300 to Dallas
A new global survey of retailers from the Nielsen Perishables Group titled Why Retailers are Keeping it Fresh concludes that diversification of retail channels where fresh food is purchased and a slowly contracting fresh market share for supermarkets is a big trend in teh USA.
The report includes online and in-person surveys of 87,000 people in 58 countries. Pver half of those surveyed blamed higher prices for cutting their fresh food purchases.
The report also predicts by 2017 USA retail fresh dollar market share for supercenters/hypermarkets will climb to 15 percent, and increase of one percent fromlast year. The share of fresh sales at U.S. warehouse clubs will rise to 12 percent by 2016, up two percent from 2012. However, the share of fresh sales at USA supermarkets will decline from 66 percent last year to 64 percent by 2016.
Consumers in America shop for fresh foods about 1.4 times per week, compared with the average of 2.5 times per week for all global consumers.
In Asia, the report notes fresh foods — bakery, deli, meat, produce and seafood — account for as much as 60 percent of consumer expenses on food, grocery and personal care items. European consumers spend an average of 53 percent on fresh foods as a share of total food and grocery purchases. By contrast, American purchses of fresh foods account for just 30percent of consumer expenditures on food, grocery and personal care items. Fresh produce accounted for 32 percent for fresh category sales in the USA, second only to the meat department’s 39 percent share.
South Florida has been shipping red potatoes and to a lesser extent, gold and white potatoes since the middle of February, with central Florida starting a week or two later.
South Florida potato shipments should be peaking within the next couple of weeks and continue until around the middle of May. North Florida spud loads will become available in late April.
Like most Florida items this year, watermelons got underway early with a mid-March shipping start. Central Florida watermelons will be get started in mid to late April. Both south and central Florida melon loadings should continue into the second or third week of May. Meanwhile, watermelon shipments in northern Florida should get going around mid May and continue through June.
I had a great visit to Georgia May 25-29 visiting with truckers at various truck stops along Interstate 75, as well as on the Atlanta State Farmers Market. Over the next several weeks I’ll be posting some photos and interviews with owner operators and drivers from the Georgia trip.
Additionally I met with a number of shippers of vegetables, watermelons and peaches in central Georgia.
The first part of the week was the coldest I’d ever seen over years in March when in Georiga. There were a couple of heavy frosts and damage to produce will really depend upon a lot of things. For example, I talked with one water melon shipper who received no frost damage, but another shipper located only 20 miles to the north lost his watermelon plants that had only been in the ground a week or so……A bean shipper told me he had some leaf burn on plants…..Peach shippers should know in a week or two if the crop will be affected by the cold……One blueberry shipper said there will be losses for the fruit, which starts in a few weeks. However, it was too early to assess damage…..Overall, I think your Georgia spring and summer loading opportunities won’t be reduced by all that much.
I visited Southeastern Georgia several weeks ago and have followed up that visit with calls to get a better ideal of how Vidalia onion shipments are shaping up. Vidalia has got a lot rain in recent weeks, but decent shipments are still expected.
Loadings in any volume won’t be happening until after mid April. We’ll have to wait and see until the harvest gets going, whether there’s going to be any disease problems from rains, such as downy mildew.
Vidalia typically ships fresh onions until early June, and then continues shipments out of storage into late August or early September. However, sweet onions can be pretty “ify” coming out of storage and tend not to store as well as other onions.
There are nearly 12,600 acres of Vidalia onions planted this year, which is only one percent less than than 2012. — Bill Martin
Greens from central and south Georgia – grossing about $2400 to New York City.
Life is less complicated for Dave Krebs as he runs pretty much the same routes each week for Great Lakes Cheese of Hiram, OH. HaulProduce recently caughtup with after he has delivered a load of cheese to Atanta from Ohio. His weekly route typically takes him from Ohio to Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, Pennyslvania, Maryland, and as far north as Buffalo, NY. It all involving picking up and delivering cheexe.
Dave, 55, has been trucking since he was 18 years old, where he started out driving a dump truck. He’s been running his current route for the past year. Prior to this he was delivering milk to Costco stores.
“I love having a regular route,” says the resident of Garretsville, OH. “You know what you will be doing for the week and where you will be.” He also works directly with shippers to obtain his own loads.
Dave owns a 2010 359 Peterbilt with an ISX 550 h.p. Cummins diesel. I features an 18 speed transmission, has a 285-inch wheelbase, pulling a 48-foot Utility trailer with a thermoKing unit.
While the owner operator is glad to be trucking for the same businesses each week, he readily admits being a driver isn’t necessarily his first love. Dave enjoys buying and selling things – something like a “horse” trader.
“This is a job. It’s like going on the pawn shop TV series. I’ll sell anything, including this truck,” he notes.
What does he like least about trucking? All the paperwork, the rules and the regulations.
Specifically, Dave mentions the CSA regulations of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which rates the safety of motor carriers. The FMCSA bases its safet program on percentages. This mean that 35 percent of carriers are going have safety “alerts,” since only 65 percent of carriers can be deemed safe at any on time.
He calls this rating system, “terrible.”
As for the hours of service rules, Dave say the rules do not bother him, “because what I do, the 34-hour restart does not affect me. I have time for plenty of rest in between my stops.”
While he sees some improvement in the economy, he notes freight rates are still too low and should be higher. When the economy took a nosedive in 2008, Dave sold four flatbed trailers he had been using to haul steel.
Rickie Perteet will never forget back in 2002 when he was outside mowing his yard and his neighbor said to him, “I’m sorry about your job.”
The veteran trucker didn’t have a clue what his neighbor was talking about. Then the fellow said, “You better go inside and see CNN.”
That’s how Rickie, who had been driving 13 years for Consolidated Freightways, found out he was not only unemployed, but the large carrier was no longer in business. The nation’s third largest trucking company had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It was Labor Day, September 3, 2002. The Vancouver, WA based carrier had 15,500 employees at the time. It had been in business since 1929.
A resident of Portland, TN, Rickie has now been a company driver for 28 years and hauls produce for Freeman Logisitics.
I caught up with Rickie several weeks ago on the Atlanta State Farmers Market where he had just delivered a load of tomatoes from Nashville, TN. The product was being hauled to FreshPoint Atlanta Inc., a wholesale and foodservice operation.
The company driver has a regular run where he pick ups a load of produce in Nashville on Sunday night for delivery to Atlanta Monday morning. He typically makes two to three round trips per week.
Prior to joing Freeman Logisitics Rickie had made a couple trips to the West Coast hauling chickens westbound and produce back, but says he prefers the trucking he is doing now – and spending more time at home.
He drives a 2003 Peterbilt with a 475 hp Cat diesel and a 13-speed transmission on a 286-inch wheelbase. It pulls at 53-foot Great Dane with a ThermoKing reefer unit.
Rickie, 55, says he learned trucking from his dad. He also has a couple of uncles and an aunt that own a few trucks.
Over the years the aspect of trucking he liked least was being away from home and his kids so much, missing ball games, etc. His children are now 18 and 21 years old and he gets to spend more time with them due to his regular haul, even though the kids no longer live at home.
One fact that saddens him about trucking are the drivers coming into the business. There is a lot of inexperienced drivers on the road who lack professionalism.
“The other day I saw a driver on the highway with a book on the dash and he was reading it while going down the road,” he says.
WAYCROSS, Ga. — Georgia Blueberries are delicious and nutritious – full of vitamins, fiber and disease-fighting antioxidants. Now, there is further evidence that enjoying blueberries is good for your heart. A new study in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association suggests eating three or more servings of blueberries each week may help women reduce their risk of having a heart attack.According to the study, conducted by scientists at Harvard School of Public Health and the University of East Anglia (United Kingdom), blueberries contain high levels of dietary flavonoids. A sub-class of these flavonoids, called anthocyanins, may counter plaque buildup, which leads to heart attacks.
Women in the study who ate the most blueberries (and strawberries) had a 32% reduction in heart attacks compared to women who only ate berries once a month or less – even if the women’s diet was full of other fruits and vegetables.The findings were independent of other risk factors including age, weight, blood pressure and family history of heart attacks.“We’ve known about the health benefits of Georgia Blueberries for quite some time,” said Joe Cornelius, chairman of the Georgia Blueberry Commission. “As we begin American Heart Month and focus on ways to prevent heart disease, this study is further evidence that including Georgia Blueberries is an easy way to make a diet more heart-healthy.”Georgia is one of the largest blueberry-producing states in the U.S., with an annual production of nearly 60 million pounds. At their peak of freshness between mid-April through the end of July, Sweet Georgia Blues can be frozen for year-round enjoyment.About the Georgia Blueberry CommissionIn 2009, the Georgia Department of Agriculture formed the Georgia Blueberry Commission as a program to support research, education and promotion on behalf of the state’s growers. Georgia claims the longest season in the U.S. lasting from mid-April through the end of July to enjoy fresh Georgia Blueberries – our very own “Sweet Georgia Blues.” For more information, recipes and background on Georgia Blueberries, log onto www.GeorgiaBlueberries.orgSource: Georgia Blueberry Commission
That Florida freeze in early March hit some the state’s sweet corn, green bean and blueberry crops, and will result in fewer loading opportunities in the weeks ahead, although not as seriously as first feared. Actually, Florida is primed for a pretty good spring hauling season.
On March 4 temperatures plunged into the mid-20s as far south as Belle Glade, FL, which is located between the eastern edge of Lake Okeechobee and West Palm Beach, FL.
Initial concerns were the freeze was a lot worse, but not it now appears that shipments of the state’s sweet corn crop will be down by less than 20 percent, although this is still significant.
Blueberries in Northern Florida sustained mild-to-moderate damage to blueberries while central Florida were virtually unaffected. Blueberry loadings have been occurring now for several weeks.
Perhaps the hardist hit of Florida vegetables were green beans. On the positive side, replantings will make loadings availabe by mid-April, at least in light volume. Still over all shipments will be less due to the initial loss. somewhat diminished.
Michigan Apple Update
Michigan apple shipments were virtually demolished in 2012 following a most untimely freeze. The tree has come out of dormancy four-plus weeks early and and were clobbered by nearly two dozen frosts.
Apple shipments were reduced by 90 percent. As a result, Michigan growers and shippers are pretty edgy this time around. So far, so good with cold weather in recent weeks and it should continue for another week or more before spring weather starts arriving. This it is a matter of praying for no more freezes.
Loading opportunities for more than doubled over the past decade for sweet potatoes, although like its cousin the potato, may be the best paying produce item. However, it’s also less risky to haul since it is less perishable.
North Carolina remains the number one shipper of sweet potatoes. The USDA reports it produced 1.24 billion pounds in 2012. California was second at 617 million pounds. Those two states , along with Louisiana and Mississippi, ship over 90 percent of the USA’s sweet potatoes.
In total American truckers will haul 2.65 billion pounds of sweet potatoes from the 2012 crop. This compares with 1.28 billion 10 years ago.
Total acreage in the U.S. in 2011 — the last year for which that statistic is available — was 130,300 acres, up from 82,300 in 2002.
California Strawberry Shipments
California strawberry shippers have been loading a lot of fruit leading up to Easter (March 31). Strawberry loadings will continue heavy from Southern California right on through Mother’s Day (May 12), when Oxnard starts a seasonal decline.
At some point in May the Watsonville/Salinas district should have really crank up with significan shipments, about the same time various types of vegetables really get going.
As of March 9, California strawberry shippers had moved 9.07 million trays, down from 11.8 million trays for the same period in 2012.
The Oxnard district is expected to hit its peak right after Easter.
(This is a press release from the California Construction Trucking Association. Although the group represents truckers such as dump truck haulers and others, these rules will also adversely affect produce truckers and most other types of haulers.)
Upland, CA. – The California Construction Trucking Association (CCTA) has filed a Notice of Appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in its nearly two-year-long legal case against the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) heavy-duty, on-road truck and bus regulation (CDTOA v. CARB, Case No. 2:11-CV-00384-MCE-GGH).
The CARB diesel engine regulation will ultimately force the replacement of most diesel powered commercial motor vehicles that do not meet 2010 EPA emissions standards in order to operate in the State of California. Despite claims used to justify this regulation by regulators and environmental groups that public grant funding is readily available to assist truckers in complying – this is not true. Small-business truckers are bearing the brunt of the multi-billion dollar expense to unnecessarily replace trucks originally built and certified to EPA emissions standards.
The CCTA originally filed its litigation to CARB’s diesel engine regulation in March 2011 stating the state regulation is pre-empted by the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (FAAAA) which prohibits states from enacting any law, rule, or regulation affecting the price, routes, or services of motor carriers. The NRDC intervened by presenting a Gordian Knot legal theory that CARB’s regulation was not actually a state regulation but effectively a federal regulation when the EPA hurriedly approved the California State Implementation Plan (SIP) in 2012 containing the challenged truck and bus regulation – a year after litigation began.
In December 2012, the U.S. District Court issued a decision that the EPA was an “indispensable party” to the litigation resulting from EPA approval of the SIP and that the court no longer retained jurisdiction. No decision was made on the merits of CCTA’s original legal argument. The CCTA will appeal this decision.
Additionally, the CCTA will file a Petition for Review with the Ninth Circuit challenging EPA’s approval of the SIP since the Clean Air Act prohibits EPA from approving a SIP in conflict with other federal law. CCTA believes the approval is in conflict with the FAAAA and commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Separately, the CCTA is being represented by the Pacific Legal Foundation in another action challenging the process used by the EPA in approving CARB’s off-road diesel engine rules.
Read an open letter the trucking industry titled “Why We Should Continue to Fight.”
http://calcontrk.org/industry/carb/1027-cdtoa-vs-arb
About the CCTA
The California Construction Trucking Association (formerly known as the California Dump Truck Owners Association) is a 501 (c) (6) trade association founded in 1941 and headquartered in Upland, California. CCTA membership consists of over 1,100 member motor carriers ranging in size from one-truck owner-operators to fleets with over 350 trucks. CCTA members operate in multiple modes of trucking from vocational trucking to property carrying in both intrastate and interstate commerce.
Contact:
Joe Rajkovacz
Director of Governmental Affairs &
Communications
California Construction Trucking Association &
Western Trucking Alliance
+1 909 982 9898
joe@calcontrk.org
Storage supplies of onions from the Northwest are as low as they have been in many years. Whether we are talking Idaho, Oregon or Washington state, storage onions and shipments are well below the levels from four years ago. In fact, there are 10 million pounds fewer onions than in 2009.
If you are in the Northwest, apples and pears, especially from Washington state, are in much better supply, plus usually pay a better freight rate better than onions. Idaho has more potatoes than it knows what to do with, so they are moving a lot spuds.
California
Asparagus shipments are originating primarily from the Delta region of the San Joaquin Valley, although volume has really declined in the past 10 years or so.
In the year 2000, San Joaquin County alone shipped over 63 million pounds of asparagus from 23,600 acres harvested. By 2011, county plantings had fallen to 6,400 acres. The year, available loads are expected to be similar to last year, about 36 million pounds on 11,000 to 12,000 acres statewide.
The Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo is May 5th and record avocado shipments of avocados are being predicted leading up to this event. California loadings will be going full bore during April as the state expects to ship about 87.3 million pounds of avocados – just for Cinco de Mayo! In total, about 515 million pounds of avocados should be transported in 2013. This would be one of biggest crops on record.
Texas
Lower Rio Grande Valley sweet onion shipments are normally peaking right now, but 2013 is shaping up for Texas to be more like 2007, as there will be less volume this season.
I was on the Atlanta State Farmers Market last week and talked with a trucker who was being unloaded. He had onions on a flatbed trailer. He’d just arrived from South Texas. However, onion loads will be off sharply this year from Texas and Mexico. In south Texas you probably will have better luck getting Mexican produce items ranging from veggies to tropical fruits, as well as Lower Rio Grade Valley citrus.
South Texas produce – grossing about $2700 to Atlanta.
Southern California avocados, berries, citrus – about $6800 to New York City.
Idaho potatoes – about $2800 to Chicago.
Yakima Valley apples and pears – about $4300 to Dallas
A new global survey of retailers from the Nielsen Perishables Group titled Why Retailers are Keeping it Fresh concludes that diversification of retail channels where fresh food is purchased and a slowly contracting fresh market share for supermarkets is a big trend in teh USA.
The report includes online and in-person surveys of 87,000 people in 58 countries. Pver half of those surveyed blamed higher prices for cutting their fresh food purchases.
The report also predicts by 2017 USA retail fresh dollar market share for supercenters/hypermarkets will climb to 15 percent, and increase of one percent fromlast year. The share of fresh sales at U.S. warehouse clubs will rise to 12 percent by 2016, up two percent from 2012. However, the share of fresh sales at USA supermarkets will decline from 66 percent last year to 64 percent by 2016.
Consumers in America shop for fresh foods about 1.4 times per week, compared with the average of 2.5 times per week for all global consumers.
In Asia, the report notes fresh foods — bakery, deli, meat, produce and seafood — account for as much as 60 percent of consumer expenses on food, grocery and personal care items. European consumers spend an average of 53 percent on fresh foods as a share of total food and grocery purchases. By contrast, American purchses of fresh foods account for just 30percent of consumer expenditures on food, grocery and personal care items. Fresh produce accounted for 32 percent for fresh category sales in the USA, second only to the meat department’s 39 percent share.
South Florida has been shipping red potatoes and to a lesser extent, gold and white potatoes since the middle of February, with central Florida starting a week or two later.
South Florida potato shipments should be peaking within the next couple of weeks and continue until around the middle of May. North Florida spud loads will become available in late April.
Like most Florida items this year, watermelons got underway early with a mid-March shipping start. Central Florida watermelons will be get started in mid to late April. Both south and central Florida melon loadings should continue into the second or third week of May. Meanwhile, watermelon shipments in northern Florida should get going around mid May and continue through June.
I had a great visit to Georgia May 25-29 visiting with truckers at various truck stops along Interstate 75, as well as on the Atlanta State Farmers Market. Over the next several weeks I’ll be posting some photos and interviews with owner operators and drivers from the Georgia trip.
Additionally I met with a number of shippers of vegetables, watermelons and peaches in central Georgia.
The first part of the week was the coldest I’d ever seen over years in March when in Georiga. There were a couple of heavy frosts and damage to produce will really depend upon a lot of things. For example, I talked with one water melon shipper who received no frost damage, but another shipper located only 20 miles to the north lost his watermelon plants that had only been in the ground a week or so……A bean shipper told me he had some leaf burn on plants…..Peach shippers should know in a week or two if the crop will be affected by the cold……One blueberry shipper said there will be losses for the fruit, which starts in a few weeks. However, it was too early to assess damage…..Overall, I think your Georgia spring and summer loading opportunities won’t be reduced by all that much.
I visited Southeastern Georgia several weeks ago and have followed up that visit with calls to get a better ideal of how Vidalia onion shipments are shaping up. Vidalia has got a lot rain in recent weeks, but decent shipments are still expected.
Loadings in any volume won’t be happening until after mid April. We’ll have to wait and see until the harvest gets going, whether there’s going to be any disease problems from rains, such as downy mildew.
Vidalia typically ships fresh onions until early June, and then continues shipments out of storage into late August or early September. However, sweet onions can be pretty “ify” coming out of storage and tend not to store as well as other onions.
There are nearly 12,600 acres of Vidalia onions planted this year, which is only one percent less than than 2012. — Bill Martin
Greens from central and south Georgia – grossing about $2400 to New York City.
Life is less complicated for Dave Krebs as he runs pretty much the same routes each week for Great Lakes Cheese of Hiram, OH. HaulProduce recently caughtup with after he has delivered a load of cheese to Atanta from Ohio. His weekly route typically takes him from Ohio to Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, Pennyslvania, Maryland, and as far north as Buffalo, NY. It all involving picking up and delivering cheexe.
Dave, 55, has been trucking since he was 18 years old, where he started out driving a dump truck. He’s been running his current route for the past year. Prior to this he was delivering milk to Costco stores.
“I love having a regular route,” says the resident of Garretsville, OH. “You know what you will be doing for the week and where you will be.” He also works directly with shippers to obtain his own loads.
Dave owns a 2010 359 Peterbilt with an ISX 550 h.p. Cummins diesel. I features an 18 speed transmission, has a 285-inch wheelbase, pulling a 48-foot Utility trailer with a thermoKing unit.
While the owner operator is glad to be trucking for the same businesses each week, he readily admits being a driver isn’t necessarily his first love. Dave enjoys buying and selling things – something like a “horse” trader.
“This is a job. It’s like going on the pawn shop TV series. I’ll sell anything, including this truck,” he notes.
What does he like least about trucking? All the paperwork, the rules and the regulations.
Specifically, Dave mentions the CSA regulations of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which rates the safety of motor carriers. The FMCSA bases its safet program on percentages. This mean that 35 percent of carriers are going have safety “alerts,” since only 65 percent of carriers can be deemed safe at any on time.
He calls this rating system, “terrible.”
As for the hours of service rules, Dave say the rules do not bother him, “because what I do, the 34-hour restart does not affect me. I have time for plenty of rest in between my stops.”
While he sees some improvement in the economy, he notes freight rates are still too low and should be higher. When the economy took a nosedive in 2008, Dave sold four flatbed trailers he had been using to haul steel.
Rickie Perteet will never forget back in 2002 when he was outside mowing his yard and his neighbor said to him, “I’m sorry about your job.”
The veteran trucker didn’t have a clue what his neighbor was talking about. Then the fellow said, “You better go inside and see CNN.”
That’s how Rickie, who had been driving 13 years for Consolidated Freightways, found out he was not only unemployed, but the large carrier was no longer in business. The nation’s third largest trucking company had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It was Labor Day, September 3, 2002. The Vancouver, WA based carrier had 15,500 employees at the time. It had been in business since 1929.
A resident of Portland, TN, Rickie has now been a company driver for 28 years and hauls produce for Freeman Logisitics.
I caught up with Rickie several weeks ago on the Atlanta State Farmers Market where he had just delivered a load of tomatoes from Nashville, TN. The product was being hauled to FreshPoint Atlanta Inc., a wholesale and foodservice operation.
The company driver has a regular run where he pick ups a load of produce in Nashville on Sunday night for delivery to Atlanta Monday morning. He typically makes two to three round trips per week.
Prior to joing Freeman Logisitics Rickie had made a couple trips to the West Coast hauling chickens westbound and produce back, but says he prefers the trucking he is doing now – and spending more time at home.
He drives a 2003 Peterbilt with a 475 hp Cat diesel and a 13-speed transmission on a 286-inch wheelbase. It pulls at 53-foot Great Dane with a ThermoKing reefer unit.
Rickie, 55, says he learned trucking from his dad. He also has a couple of uncles and an aunt that own a few trucks.
Over the years the aspect of trucking he liked least was being away from home and his kids so much, missing ball games, etc. His children are now 18 and 21 years old and he gets to spend more time with them due to his regular haul, even though the kids no longer live at home.
One fact that saddens him about trucking are the drivers coming into the business. There is a lot of inexperienced drivers on the road who lack professionalism.
“The other day I saw a driver on the highway with a book on the dash and he was reading it while going down the road,” he says.
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WAYCROSS, Ga. — Georgia Blueberries are delicious and nutritious – full of vitamins, fiber and disease-fighting antioxidants. Now, there is further evidence that enjoying blueberries is good for your heart. A new study in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association suggests eating three or more servings of blueberries each week may help women reduce their risk of having a heart attack.According to the study, conducted by scientists at Harvard School of Public Health and the University of East Anglia (United Kingdom), blueberries contain high levels of dietary flavonoids. A sub-class of these flavonoids, called anthocyanins, may counter plaque buildup, which leads to heart attacks. Women in the study who ate the most blueberries (and strawberries) had a 32% reduction in heart attacks compared to women who only ate berries once a month or less – even if the women’s diet was full of other fruits and vegetables.The findings were independent of other risk factors including age, weight, blood pressure and family history of heart attacks.“We’ve known about the health benefits of Georgia Blueberries for quite some time,” said Joe Cornelius, chairman of the Georgia Blueberry Commission. “As we begin American Heart Month and focus on ways to prevent heart disease, this study is further evidence that including Georgia Blueberries is an easy way to make a diet more heart-healthy.”Georgia is one of the largest blueberry-producing states in the U.S., with an annual production of nearly 60 million pounds. At their peak of freshness between mid-April through the end of July, Sweet Georgia Blues can be frozen for year-round enjoyment.About the Georgia Blueberry CommissionIn 2009, the Georgia Department of Agriculture formed the Georgia Blueberry Commission as a program to support research, education and promotion on behalf of the state’s growers. Georgia claims the longest season in the U.S. lasting from mid-April through the end of July to enjoy fresh Georgia Blueberries – our very own “Sweet Georgia Blues.” For more information, recipes and background on Georgia Blueberries, log onto www.GeorgiaBlueberries.orgSource: Georgia Blueberry Commission |
That Florida freeze in early March hit some the state’s sweet corn, green bean and blueberry crops, and will result in fewer loading opportunities in the weeks ahead, although not as seriously as first feared. Actually, Florida is primed for a pretty good spring hauling season.
On March 4 temperatures plunged into the mid-20s as far south as Belle Glade, FL, which is located between the eastern edge of Lake Okeechobee and West Palm Beach, FL.
Initial concerns were the freeze was a lot worse, but not it now appears that shipments of the state’s sweet corn crop will be down by less than 20 percent, although this is still significant.
Blueberries in Northern Florida sustained mild-to-moderate damage to blueberries while central Florida were virtually unaffected. Blueberry loadings have been occurring now for several weeks.
Perhaps the hardist hit of Florida vegetables were green beans. On the positive side, replantings will make loadings availabe by mid-April, at least in light volume. Still over all shipments will be less due to the initial loss. somewhat diminished.
Michigan Apple Update
Michigan apple shipments were virtually demolished in 2012 following a most untimely freeze. The tree has come out of dormancy four-plus weeks early and and were clobbered by nearly two dozen frosts.
Apple shipments were reduced by 90 percent. As a result, Michigan growers and shippers are pretty edgy this time around. So far, so good with cold weather in recent weeks and it should continue for another week or more before spring weather starts arriving. This it is a matter of praying for no more freezes.
Loading opportunities for more than doubled over the past decade for sweet potatoes, although like its cousin the potato, may be the best paying produce item. However, it’s also less risky to haul since it is less perishable.
North Carolina remains the number one shipper of sweet potatoes. The USDA reports it produced 1.24 billion pounds in 2012. California was second at 617 million pounds. Those two states , along with Louisiana and Mississippi, ship over 90 percent of the USA’s sweet potatoes.
In total American truckers will haul 2.65 billion pounds of sweet potatoes from the 2012 crop. This compares with 1.28 billion 10 years ago.
Total acreage in the U.S. in 2011 — the last year for which that statistic is available — was 130,300 acres, up from 82,300 in 2002.
California Strawberry Shipments
California strawberry shippers have been loading a lot of fruit leading up to Easter (March 31). Strawberry loadings will continue heavy from Southern California right on through Mother’s Day (May 12), when Oxnard starts a seasonal decline.
At some point in May the Watsonville/Salinas district should have really crank up with significan shipments, about the same time various types of vegetables really get going.
As of March 9, California strawberry shippers had moved 9.07 million trays, down from 11.8 million trays for the same period in 2012.
The Oxnard district is expected to hit its peak right after Easter.