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CLACKAMAS, Oregon, USA – Miatech launched dedicated e-commerce website for selling Eris Filters, their product for protecting fresh fruits and vegetables from ethylene and airborne pathogens during transportation. The online store is available at www.eris-filter.com.
Eris Filter, offered by Miatech was nominated for an award by Fruit Logistica in the past for its innovative qualities. It’s a disposable filter designed to remove both ethylene gas and airborne pathogens from refrigerated trucks and containers. Due to its unique design Eris Filter literally kills two birds with one stone.
Costas Iconomou, Miatech’s CEO, shared: “The online platform will make it much easier for our customers to order Eris Filters. All they need to do is to go to www.eris-filter.com, select quantity of filters they want to order, enter credit card details and confirm the order: any time, in any corner of the world.”
Currently eris-filter.com accepts MasterCard and Visa credit cards and offers free shipping all over the world on all standard orders.
About Miatech
Miatech manufactures various solutions for preserving postharvest quality of fruits and vegetables, including professional humidification systems and solutions for eliminating ethylene and fighting airborne pathogens. Learn more about Miatech by visiting: http://postharvest.miatech.org/
Source: Miatech
Early California navel orange shipments have gotten off to a good start this season and expect to load around 93 million boxes before the season concludes. This would be up from 83 millon cartons from the previous season. Loadings have been steady and are expected to remain this way in the weeks ahead.
Something to keep an eye on is the restrictions California is putting ictions on citrus fruit and plants in Tulare County after two recent detections of Asian citrus psyllid. It is not a full quarantine, but if another psyllid is found — it would be the fourth detection. This would trigger a two-year quarantine. Current restrictions are in place for six months.
The psyllids, which can carry citrus greening disease, feed on citrus trees, sucking the sap and weakening them, but they can carry citrus greening, a bacterial disease. The disease is no threat to humans or animals, but it can stunt and even kill citrus trees. The problem also has been detected in Florida and Texas.
Desert Shipments
In The California desert, as well as Yuma, AZ, recent warm cauliflower and broccoli shipments well above normal. Loadings are usually brisk this time of year anyway as supplies to buyers for the Christmas holidays are ramping up. A similar situation exist for various types of lettuce in the desert.
Strawberries
California is in between seasons now and strawberry shipments are light. While the Watsonville area has pretty much finished, loadings are now coming out of Ventura and Orange counties. Volume will remain light until after the first of the year.
Although the eight-day strike at ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach has ended, picking up and delivering loads to the terminals is still a mess and it could be for weeks.
It is not like the flexibility in trucking where a load can be diverted elsewhere due to a labor strike, weather factors or any number of other reasons.
Container terminals reopened Dec. 5 at both California ports as clerical workers in International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 reached a tentative contract with operators and shipping lines, as the union sought limits on outsourcing. In L.A. about 700 striking harbor clerks were backed by thousands of longshoremen who honored their picket line.
About $8 billion was lost in the strike to the local economy.
While the strike has ended, the congestion has not.
The cold chain was maintained, but there were concerns about arrival conditions and the possibility of an increase in orders that could challenge capacity.
It has been report the impacts of the strike will be far greater than just eight days. In 2002 there was a 10-day strike. It took months the boats could get back in the right rotation. This could adversely affect, for example, imported fruit from Chile arriving at Long Beach.
Entering the lightest season volume wise for produce loads, it’s not uncommon for multiple pick ups and drops to fill out the trailer. Pick ups starting in southern California may extend to the California desert, Yuma and perhaps even Nogales. Changes for the better are occuring at the Arizona, Mexico border that should improve produce crossings in the USA and reduce delays for loadings at the many Nogales warehouses.
The Mariposa port was built in the 1970s, designed to handled 400 trucks crossing into Arizona daily. Over the years changes have increased the truck count to around 1600 to 1800 a day. In the past an estimated 25 percent of the trucks crossing the border into Arizona were delayed because of gridlock on the Mariposa Road (State Route 189), which connects the port to I-19. Numerous stop lights on the state route often contribute to the delays.
In 2009 a $220 million expansion of the port was started and is scheduled for completion in 2014. This should increase traffic capabilities to 4,000 to 5,000 trucks a day crossing the border in Nogales.
Meanwhile, there is light volume of watermelon, honeydew, squash, bell peppers, tomatoes and other items crossing the border from Mexico, it will be another month of so before the volume really improves.
Nogales produce is grossing about $3400 to Chicago, about $5800 to New York.
Fresh fruit and vegetable retail prices in 2012 were generally lower, according to a recently released government report.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service reports lower fruit and vegetable prices resulting in overall retail prices for food being kept in line through October this year.
From January through October , average food-at-home prices have been flat because deflation in the fresh fruit and vegetable arena and lower prices for milk and pork, the USDA ERS said in a food price outlook report issued in late November. By contrast, beef, veal, poultry, fat and oil prices have been higher.
The inflation forecast for both all food and food-at-home prices in 2012 is 2.5 to 3.5 percent. Lower prices were particularly pronounced for vegetables in 2012, according to the USDA ERS.
The fresh vegetable consumer price index increased 0.6 percent, however it has dropped about every month in 2012. Compared with 2011 year ago, fresh vegetable prices are down 3.2 percent on average, due primarily by a 10.9 percent drop in potato prices, a 4.1 oercent decline in lettuce and a 1.7 percent slide in tomato prices. Other fresh vegetable prices were down 0.7 percent.
Warmer weather and favorable growing conditions in 2012 combined to increase yield and lower prices compared with year-ago levels.
An expected seasonal increase in prices during the second half of 2012 has been less than predicted, and because of that the USDA now expects fresh vegetable prices to fall 4 percent to 5 percent in 2012. The fresh fruit price index is up 2.1 percent from October 2011, and the USDA projected fresh fruit prices for 2012 are now projected to fall between 1 percent and 2 percent.
Compared with October 2011, the USDA said retail apple prices are up 6.4 percent, with banana prices 1.4 percent lower, citrus prices 0.1 percent higher and other fresh fruit commodities up 1.3 percent in retail price.
Prices increases overall of 3 to 4 percent for fresh produce is projected in 2013 by the USDA. The agency sees an increase of 3 to to 4 percent for fresh fruit and 4 to 5 percent for fresh vegetables.
Overall food price inflation for 2013 is projected between 3 and 4 percent. Prices for food served away from home are projected to increase 2.5 to 3.5 percent in 2013, while prices for food served at home are expected to increase 3 to 4 percent.
More exciting news from Bully Dog; the Sensor Docking Station Products (#40383, #40384 and #40387) have been incorporated into the Heavy Duty GT and Heavy Duty WatchDog.
What does this mean? In a nutshell you can easily add additional gauges that the OEM did not equip on your truck with your Heavy Duty WatchDog or Heavy Duty GT.
What gauges are we talking about? Pretty much the skies the limit – Boost, Pyrometer, Water, Tranny, Rear-end, Ambient Air, etc, etc. If the gauge has a 5 volt sensor, it can be displayed digitally inside the cab. Warning levels can be set on many of these gauges to warn you when max levels, that you have set, have been exceeded so you can take action to prevent damage to your rig.
More detailed information can be found at bigrig.bullydog.com
Strawberry shipments from the Plant City, FL area have been underway for more than a month, but only in very light volume. This is changing as available loads will show significant increases by December 10, and be in big volume around December 15-20. Central Florida also has very light volume with cherry, grape, roma and green tomatoes. The area also is shipping variety of vegetables. However, this overall is seasonally a very light volume period for Florida. Expect multiple pickups to involved with most loads.
You may even have to fill out the trailer from those Florida pick ups with a few pallets of cabbage, greens or broccoli from Southern Georgia. In fact, the whole Eastern seaboard extending into the Northeast and New England doesn’t hold a lot of volume, but sometimes something is better than nothing.
In eastern growing areas of North Carolina, the biggest volume is with sweet potatoes, not necessarily known for paying the best freight rates…..In upstate New York, Orange County is shipping storage onions, while central and western areas are loading cabbage. New York apples were hit pretty hard by freezing weather earlier this year, especially from western and central shipping points. Even the Hudson Valley did not escape the freeze, although it came out better than the rest of the state.
In northern Maine, Aroostoock County is shipping around 150 truck loads of potatoes a week.
Maine potatoes – grossing about $1700 to New York City.
North Carolina sweet potatoes – about $1500 to Atlanta.
Florida vegetables and strawberries – about $2600 to Boston.
Recently Commerical Carrier Journal provided some pointers for truckers to use to save fuel while on the road. Some are common sense, some might not occur to you.
Check out some tips that are obvious. will other may not be so obvious.
Turn off the engine. Drivers should avoid excessive warm-up times when starting the truck, even for a short time. Look for other times when drivers have a habit of idling.
Use shore power when it’s available. Many inverters and auxiliary power units come with a plug-in option that converts incoming current to DC to charge the batteries, using AC to power climate-control units and/or in-cab accessories. The truckstop electrification movement to help eliminate idling has gained steam in the last year, with plug-in options available at many more parking spaces.
Avoid revving the engine between shifts. Ease into each new gear, and don’t be in a hurry to climb through them.
Run in your engine’s sweet spot. Once you reach cruising speed, operating in the peak torque zone gives you optimum horsepower so that the engine runs most efficiently. It takes only about 200 horsepower to maintain 65 mph.
Minimize air-conditioning use. Running the A/C delivers a 2/10- to 4/10-mpg hit.
Anticipate traffic lights. If you can approach slowly and avoid a complete stop, it saves fuel and reduces equipment wear.
Maintain an extended following distance. It helps to prevent unnecessary acceleration due to frequent braking.
Lower your average highway speed. Every mph over 55 equals a 0.1-mpg drop in fuel economy.
Don’t punch the throttle. Gradually put your foot into it, pretending there’s an egg between the pedal and the floorboard. Use smooth, steady accelerator inputs to avoid fuel burn spikes.
Read more at http://cdllife.com/2012/driving-jobs/checklist-how-truck-drivers-can-save-fuel/#8YfdU4yqK7HK6gkr.99
Christmas is only three weeks away and produce holiday shipments have already started with some items.
The last of fresh cranberry loads are now moving to USA markets, but primarily from Central Wisconsin. While Massachusetts often promises Christmas shipments, it has a checkered history of actually delivering, primarily due to quality issues and the demand from the processing marketing.
Probably the most reliable is The Cranberry Network LLC, Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., which markets fruit grown by Tomah, WI-based Habelman Bros. Co., the nation’s largest fresh cranberry grower. It plans on packing and shipping fresh-market cranberries through mid-December.
In Texas, the Winter Garden District located just south of San Antonio is gearing up with cabbage, broccoli and onion shipments. Further south in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, there are grapefruit and orange loads available, as well as a variety of vegetables, not only from the valley, but crossing the border from Mexico.
California
California has a big clementine crop this season coming out of the San Joaquin Valley. The valley continues to ship a record setting table grape crop, which will be winding down in coming weeks.
In the desert areas of California (Imperial Valley) and Arizona (Yuma), volume is increasing on vegetables. Last winter was very mild and unlike many past winters, picks and loads were not significantly disrupted by weather factors. Odds are this won’t happen in two consecutive years, but we’ll find out in the weeks and months ahead.
Imports
Imported Spanish clementines arriving on the East Coast are expected to be 25-30 percent lower than last season.
Importers of Peruvian and Chilean onions expect good movement and good quality with winter approaching. Arrivals are taking place now with onions from Peru, while onions from Chile will start arriving anytime, a 20 percent drop is seen.
Imperial Valley vegetables – grossing about $3800 to Chicago.
An estimated 5,000 truckers haved been shut down at ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach from a clerical workers strikethat started last week.
The Los Angeles/Long Beach Harbor Employers Associations are continuing negotiations with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 Office Clerical Unit. Other ILWU have refused to cross OCU picket lines, which had idled cargo from moving.
The dispute is over job security and outsourcing, according to the union. The LA/LB HEA is a not-for-profit organization representing the region’s shipping agencies and terminal operators which assists in administration of labor contracts.
CLACKAMAS, Oregon, USA – Miatech launched dedicated e-commerce website for selling Eris Filters, their product for protecting fresh fruits and vegetables from ethylene and airborne pathogens during transportation. The online store is available at www.eris-filter.com.
Eris Filter, offered by Miatech was nominated for an award by Fruit Logistica in the past for its innovative qualities. It’s a disposable filter designed to remove both ethylene gas and airborne pathogens from refrigerated trucks and containers. Due to its unique design Eris Filter literally kills two birds with one stone.
Costas Iconomou, Miatech’s CEO, shared: “The online platform will make it much easier for our customers to order Eris Filters. All they need to do is to go to www.eris-filter.com, select quantity of filters they want to order, enter credit card details and confirm the order: any time, in any corner of the world.”
Currently eris-filter.com accepts MasterCard and Visa credit cards and offers free shipping all over the world on all standard orders.
About Miatech
Miatech manufactures various solutions for preserving postharvest quality of fruits and vegetables, including professional humidification systems and solutions for eliminating ethylene and fighting airborne pathogens. Learn more about Miatech by visiting: http://postharvest.miatech.org/
Source: Miatech
Early California navel orange shipments have gotten off to a good start this season and expect to load around 93 million boxes before the season concludes. This would be up from 83 millon cartons from the previous season. Loadings have been steady and are expected to remain this way in the weeks ahead.
Something to keep an eye on is the restrictions California is putting ictions on citrus fruit and plants in Tulare County after two recent detections of Asian citrus psyllid. It is not a full quarantine, but if another psyllid is found — it would be the fourth detection. This would trigger a two-year quarantine. Current restrictions are in place for six months.
The psyllids, which can carry citrus greening disease, feed on citrus trees, sucking the sap and weakening them, but they can carry citrus greening, a bacterial disease. The disease is no threat to humans or animals, but it can stunt and even kill citrus trees. The problem also has been detected in Florida and Texas.
Desert Shipments
In The California desert, as well as Yuma, AZ, recent warm cauliflower and broccoli shipments well above normal. Loadings are usually brisk this time of year anyway as supplies to buyers for the Christmas holidays are ramping up. A similar situation exist for various types of lettuce in the desert.
Strawberries
California is in between seasons now and strawberry shipments are light. While the Watsonville area has pretty much finished, loadings are now coming out of Ventura and Orange counties. Volume will remain light until after the first of the year.
Although the eight-day strike at ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach has ended, picking up and delivering loads to the terminals is still a mess and it could be for weeks.
It is not like the flexibility in trucking where a load can be diverted elsewhere due to a labor strike, weather factors or any number of other reasons.
Container terminals reopened Dec. 5 at both California ports as clerical workers in International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 reached a tentative contract with operators and shipping lines, as the union sought limits on outsourcing. In L.A. about 700 striking harbor clerks were backed by thousands of longshoremen who honored their picket line.
About $8 billion was lost in the strike to the local economy.
While the strike has ended, the congestion has not.
The cold chain was maintained, but there were concerns about arrival conditions and the possibility of an increase in orders that could challenge capacity.
It has been report the impacts of the strike will be far greater than just eight days. In 2002 there was a 10-day strike. It took months the boats could get back in the right rotation. This could adversely affect, for example, imported fruit from Chile arriving at Long Beach.
Entering the lightest season volume wise for produce loads, it’s not uncommon for multiple pick ups and drops to fill out the trailer. Pick ups starting in southern California may extend to the California desert, Yuma and perhaps even Nogales. Changes for the better are occuring at the Arizona, Mexico border that should improve produce crossings in the USA and reduce delays for loadings at the many Nogales warehouses.
The Mariposa port was built in the 1970s, designed to handled 400 trucks crossing into Arizona daily. Over the years changes have increased the truck count to around 1600 to 1800 a day. In the past an estimated 25 percent of the trucks crossing the border into Arizona were delayed because of gridlock on the Mariposa Road (State Route 189), which connects the port to I-19. Numerous stop lights on the state route often contribute to the delays.
In 2009 a $220 million expansion of the port was started and is scheduled for completion in 2014. This should increase traffic capabilities to 4,000 to 5,000 trucks a day crossing the border in Nogales.
Meanwhile, there is light volume of watermelon, honeydew, squash, bell peppers, tomatoes and other items crossing the border from Mexico, it will be another month of so before the volume really improves.
Nogales produce is grossing about $3400 to Chicago, about $5800 to New York.
Fresh fruit and vegetable retail prices in 2012 were generally lower, according to a recently released government report.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service reports lower fruit and vegetable prices resulting in overall retail prices for food being kept in line through October this year.
From January through October , average food-at-home prices have been flat because deflation in the fresh fruit and vegetable arena and lower prices for milk and pork, the USDA ERS said in a food price outlook report issued in late November. By contrast, beef, veal, poultry, fat and oil prices have been higher.
The inflation forecast for both all food and food-at-home prices in 2012 is 2.5 to 3.5 percent. Lower prices were particularly pronounced for vegetables in 2012, according to the USDA ERS.
The fresh vegetable consumer price index increased 0.6 percent, however it has dropped about every month in 2012. Compared with 2011 year ago, fresh vegetable prices are down 3.2 percent on average, due primarily by a 10.9 percent drop in potato prices, a 4.1 oercent decline in lettuce and a 1.7 percent slide in tomato prices. Other fresh vegetable prices were down 0.7 percent.
Warmer weather and favorable growing conditions in 2012 combined to increase yield and lower prices compared with year-ago levels.
An expected seasonal increase in prices during the second half of 2012 has been less than predicted, and because of that the USDA now expects fresh vegetable prices to fall 4 percent to 5 percent in 2012. The fresh fruit price index is up 2.1 percent from October 2011, and the USDA projected fresh fruit prices for 2012 are now projected to fall between 1 percent and 2 percent.
Compared with October 2011, the USDA said retail apple prices are up 6.4 percent, with banana prices 1.4 percent lower, citrus prices 0.1 percent higher and other fresh fruit commodities up 1.3 percent in retail price.
Prices increases overall of 3 to 4 percent for fresh produce is projected in 2013 by the USDA. The agency sees an increase of 3 to to 4 percent for fresh fruit and 4 to 5 percent for fresh vegetables.
Overall food price inflation for 2013 is projected between 3 and 4 percent. Prices for food served away from home are projected to increase 2.5 to 3.5 percent in 2013, while prices for food served at home are expected to increase 3 to 4 percent.
More exciting news from Bully Dog; the Sensor Docking Station Products (#40383, #40384 and #40387) have been incorporated into the Heavy Duty GT and Heavy Duty WatchDog.
What does this mean? In a nutshell you can easily add additional gauges that the OEM did not equip on your truck with your Heavy Duty WatchDog or Heavy Duty GT.
What gauges are we talking about? Pretty much the skies the limit – Boost, Pyrometer, Water, Tranny, Rear-end, Ambient Air, etc, etc. If the gauge has a 5 volt sensor, it can be displayed digitally inside the cab. Warning levels can be set on many of these gauges to warn you when max levels, that you have set, have been exceeded so you can take action to prevent damage to your rig.
More detailed information can be found at bigrig.bullydog.com
Strawberry shipments from the Plant City, FL area have been underway for more than a month, but only in very light volume. This is changing as available loads will show significant increases by December 10, and be in big volume around December 15-20. Central Florida also has very light volume with cherry, grape, roma and green tomatoes. The area also is shipping variety of vegetables. However, this overall is seasonally a very light volume period for Florida. Expect multiple pickups to involved with most loads.
You may even have to fill out the trailer from those Florida pick ups with a few pallets of cabbage, greens or broccoli from Southern Georgia. In fact, the whole Eastern seaboard extending into the Northeast and New England doesn’t hold a lot of volume, but sometimes something is better than nothing.
In eastern growing areas of North Carolina, the biggest volume is with sweet potatoes, not necessarily known for paying the best freight rates…..In upstate New York, Orange County is shipping storage onions, while central and western areas are loading cabbage. New York apples were hit pretty hard by freezing weather earlier this year, especially from western and central shipping points. Even the Hudson Valley did not escape the freeze, although it came out better than the rest of the state.
In northern Maine, Aroostoock County is shipping around 150 truck loads of potatoes a week.
Maine potatoes – grossing about $1700 to New York City.
North Carolina sweet potatoes – about $1500 to Atlanta.
Florida vegetables and strawberries – about $2600 to Boston.
Recently Commerical Carrier Journal provided some pointers for truckers to use to save fuel while on the road. Some are common sense, some might not occur to you.
Check out some tips that are obvious. will other may not be so obvious.
Turn off the engine. Drivers should avoid excessive warm-up times when starting the truck, even for a short time. Look for other times when drivers have a habit of idling.
Use shore power when it’s available. Many inverters and auxiliary power units come with a plug-in option that converts incoming current to DC to charge the batteries, using AC to power climate-control units and/or in-cab accessories. The truckstop electrification movement to help eliminate idling has gained steam in the last year, with plug-in options available at many more parking spaces.
Avoid revving the engine between shifts. Ease into each new gear, and don’t be in a hurry to climb through them.
Run in your engine’s sweet spot. Once you reach cruising speed, operating in the peak torque zone gives you optimum horsepower so that the engine runs most efficiently. It takes only about 200 horsepower to maintain 65 mph.
Minimize air-conditioning use. Running the A/C delivers a 2/10- to 4/10-mpg hit.
Anticipate traffic lights. If you can approach slowly and avoid a complete stop, it saves fuel and reduces equipment wear.
Maintain an extended following distance. It helps to prevent unnecessary acceleration due to frequent braking.
Lower your average highway speed. Every mph over 55 equals a 0.1-mpg drop in fuel economy.
Don’t punch the throttle. Gradually put your foot into it, pretending there’s an egg between the pedal and the floorboard. Use smooth, steady accelerator inputs to avoid fuel burn spikes.
Read more at http://cdllife.com/2012/driving-jobs/checklist-how-truck-drivers-can-save-fuel/#8YfdU4yqK7HK6gkr.99
Christmas is only three weeks away and produce holiday shipments have already started with some items.
The last of fresh cranberry loads are now moving to USA markets, but primarily from Central Wisconsin. While Massachusetts often promises Christmas shipments, it has a checkered history of actually delivering, primarily due to quality issues and the demand from the processing marketing.
Probably the most reliable is The Cranberry Network LLC, Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., which markets fruit grown by Tomah, WI-based Habelman Bros. Co., the nation’s largest fresh cranberry grower. It plans on packing and shipping fresh-market cranberries through mid-December.
In Texas, the Winter Garden District located just south of San Antonio is gearing up with cabbage, broccoli and onion shipments. Further south in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, there are grapefruit and orange loads available, as well as a variety of vegetables, not only from the valley, but crossing the border from Mexico.
California
California has a big clementine crop this season coming out of the San Joaquin Valley. The valley continues to ship a record setting table grape crop, which will be winding down in coming weeks.
In the desert areas of California (Imperial Valley) and Arizona (Yuma), volume is increasing on vegetables. Last winter was very mild and unlike many past winters, picks and loads were not significantly disrupted by weather factors. Odds are this won’t happen in two consecutive years, but we’ll find out in the weeks and months ahead.
Imports
Imported Spanish clementines arriving on the East Coast are expected to be 25-30 percent lower than last season.
Importers of Peruvian and Chilean onions expect good movement and good quality with winter approaching. Arrivals are taking place now with onions from Peru, while onions from Chile will start arriving anytime, a 20 percent drop is seen.
Imperial Valley vegetables – grossing about $3800 to Chicago.
An estimated 5,000 truckers haved been shut down at ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach from a clerical workers strikethat started last week.
The Los Angeles/Long Beach Harbor Employers Associations are continuing negotiations with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 Office Clerical Unit. Other ILWU have refused to cross OCU picket lines, which had idled cargo from moving.
The dispute is over job security and outsourcing, according to the union. The LA/LB HEA is a not-for-profit organization representing the region’s shipping agencies and terminal operators which assists in administration of labor contracts.