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Fred Plotsky and his staff at Cool Runnings arrange about 8,000 loads a year. 
He sees the biggest issue facing trucker is financing, followed by the rules and regulations on the trucking industry.
“However,” he adds, “If you can’t get the financing, the rules and regulations don’t matter.”
The president of Cool Runnings, based in Kenosha, WI, says truckers are facing rising costs with everything from tires to fuel and labor. An engine overhaul that was $13,000 two years ago now costs $20,000 to $21,000. The mechanics who work on those diesel engines have hourly rates that have increased from $60 to $100 per hour.
While the produce rates have gone up in recent weeks, the price of disel fuel remains high as well. For example, Fred says a truck averaging five miles per gallon, running 3,700 miles per week, at today’s diesel prices, that is costing $3,000 a week, which is hard to finance.
While Cool Runnings charges a two percent fee for advances on loads, Fred points out a lot of truck brokers charge three to five percent.
“The broker has to borrow to finance advance loads. The bank is not loaning you that money for free,” Fred states. “Financing is tight. You either pay the bank, or the broker for the cash advance. It is going to cost you more either way.”
It used to be the average cash advance was around $500 to $700 for the fuel to cover a trip from Idaho to Chicago. The advances are around $1,500.
“You are talking two percent of $1,500 when it used to be two percent of $700. The truckers have to find a way to finance this themselves, while the others who do not figure it out fall by the wayside,” Fred says.
Cool Runnings works with a lot of owner operators and small fleet operations. “The guys who used to have 20 trucks now own eight or 10. If he had 10 trucks, now he only has three or four trucks,” Fred says. “They just don’t care anymore. They’ll say, `I’m tired of fighting the rules and regulations and everything else.'”
One example of excessive government interference, Fred notes, are the CARB (California Air Resources Board) rules in California. The requirements, some of which have to do with reducing emissions, increase the costs of operation and is make it very difficult for truckers to comply, much less continue to operate profitably.
He knows one trucker who delivers freight to Utah and runs to Idaho and to pick up potatoes and French fries for delivery to Chicago. That trucker receives a consistent, steady fair rate. The trucker also does not have to comply with California’s CARB rules.
“Now that those rules are stabilized, just don’t keep changing them,” Fred states.
Cool Runnings History
Although it has been nearly 26 years, it seems almost like yesterday when I first met Fred Plotsky. I was riding in a car with a friend and business associate named Gary Robinson in Highland Park, IL during a week I was working in Chicago. Gary had just sold his truck brokerage, Cool Runnings.
How would you like to meet the new owner of Cool Runnings? He’s really a great guy,” Gary asked me. In a moment, Gary had Fred dialed up on his car phone. I met up with Fred later that day and the rest is history. We have been friends ever since.
Fred and I immediately found a few things in common. We both had an interest in produce trucking for starters. Both of us loved to fish. Fred goes after northern pike, especially on fishing expeditions to Canada, while this southern boy prefers the warmer climates and large mouth (you might find Fred reporting to work at the Cool Runnings offices in Kenosha, WI, wearing shorts in January).
Fred also has love for listening to radio, and only a few months earlier in 1986 I had launched the Produce Truckers Network and had two radio stations airing it — WRVA in Richmond, VA with Big John Trimble and WMAQ in Chicago with Fred Sanders.
Both of us are sports fans with Fred a great follower of the Chicago White Sox and the Milwaukee Brewers. He is forgiving of my support of St. Louis Cardinals.
Over the years I’ve learned to respect Fred as a loving husband, great father, little league baseball coach — and a fair and honest businessman.
It has sort of become a tradition with Fred and I to occasionally have lunch together — usually involving chicken wings and root beer. It was during such a recent visit, Fred shared some thoughts on Cool Runnings, which he has owned since July 1986, as well as what is happening with the trucking industry, and what he views as the major concerns and issues with the professionals driving the big rigs. — By Bill Martin
During some summers when produce shipments are in peak volume, so much 
product needs to be moved, and the demand for refrigerated equipment is so great, that already high rates then go through roof. It certainly has not happened this summer, and if anything, produce rates declined leading up to the Fourth of July holiday. The Fourth, being on a Wednesday, is felt by some to lessening the impact on rates.
Rates from major some shipping areas, for example in California, dropped 5 to 10 percent and more from the San Joaquin Valley, Salinas Valley, and Santa Maria.
A number of factors apparently resulted in the lower, although still healthy produce rates. For example, stone fruit shipments out of the San Joaquin Valley are down this year, freeing up some equipment. Other areas are shipping a lot less produce than normal such as Michigan (with fruit) and many Southeastern (watermelons, bluesberries and vegetables) states and in the South (Texas watermelons and melons in loutheastern states).
Still, the heaviest produce volume, on a national basis, usually occurs between May and August – and that still holds true this year.
In California, table grape shipments are winding down in the Coachella Valley, but the big volume is yet to come – from the San Joaquin Valley. Grapes have started from the Arvin (Bakersfield) district….The Salinas Valley remains heavy with vegetables shipments.
Southeastern Arkansas is in peak loadings with tomatoes.
Kentucky and Tennessee are now shipping tomatoes, zucchi, strawberries and peppers. Most shipments are on a regional basis.
Although we usually don’t think too much about ports and imported produce this time of year, various ports around the U.S. are receiving summer citrus. for example, there are arrivals of navel oranges from Peru. There is various types of citrus arriving from South Africa, Argentina, and Uruguay.
San Joaquin Valley fruit and vegetables – grossing about $7,500 to New York City.
South Texas watermelons – $3000 to Chicago.
2012 may be a year many Michigan produce shippers will prefer to forget, not 
to mention for produce haulers who like to haul out of this state.
Your best opportunities this summer will be with Michigan vegetables, which have been mostly unaffected by adverse weather. Normal volume is seen and shipments will continue into the fall. Another plus is with blueberries. As a top shipper of “blues” in the country, Michigan blueberries are forecast at about 80 to 90 million pounds, which is pretty normal.
On the downside is with other fruit. Michigan ranks in the top five in apple shipments, but certainly will not this year. Very few new crop apples survivied the April freeze. Any apples you load in next few weeks will be the last remains from the 2011-12 season. The state’s cherry shipments were also clobbered by weather, with 85 to 90 percent of the cherries wiped out. Heavy hits also were suffered with the state’s peaches and grapes.
The strong, but seasonal produce trucking rates off the West Coast sound 
pretty good, until one starts to consider what it takes to get a Westbound freight haul. The hard economic times in the USA has taken its toll on many truckers. Some in trucking report dry freight grossing as little as $2000 from the Mid-west to California.
Bradley Cook drives a truck for Frank’s Transport, a one-truck operation out of North Miami Beach, FL. HaulProduce.com recently caught up with him at a Flying J Truck Stop, after delivering a load of juice. He was hoping to get a load of freight out of Tulsa, OK for the West Coast to pick up a load of produce.
The 35-year-old has been trucking either long haul or locally since 1998, and this is about as tough as he has seen it.
“I’m working this truck like a dog trying to make ends meets,” he says, pointing to the conventional Peterbilt he is driving. The owner operator he is driving for once had three trucks, but now it is down this single tractor.
It is not easy when outbound dry freight is paying only $1.35 to $1.40 per mile, while eastbound produce loads are grossing about $2.25 per mile, “if you are lucky. The people paying for the East bound (produce) want to pay you the Westbound rates,” he says, “although they pay the better rates because they have little choice.”
It also does not help that other produce shipping areas often do not pay that well. He cites per mile rates of out of Florida being $1.25, while Texas loads are averaging about $1.50 per mile. The high cost of number 2 diesel fuel only makes it worse.
“The price of fuel is so high the produce people and everyone else are relying on the freight charges of 20 years to help make up for it (cost of deliveries),” Bradley says.
Adding to the challenges of hauling produce are the delays in loading and unloading the often occur.
“With produce, I often face delays anywhere from one to eight hours. The product may still be in fields, even though I’m at the facility on time to load,” Bradley states. “I am picking up in California and supposed to deliver in Massachusetts. If I am late for delivery (because of loading delays), that Massachusetts receiver will not pay full price for that load upon arrival.”
Another primary “beef” with Bradley is dealing with four wheelers, and particularly those driving cars who cut off big rigs.
If a wheeler cuts me off then hits the brakes, I’m going to hit my brakes, but I can’t stop on a dime. I’ll end up going five truck lengths through that guy’s vehicle,” Bradely states.
In some Western states he notes speed limits on some highways are 80 mph. “You can cut me off, and I’m going to end up killing you (with my truck, which can’t stop),” he says.
Bradley believes as part of obtaining a driver’s license four wheelers should have to ride in big rig for three weeks to get a better understanding of what it is like to operate an 18 wheeler and “experience the centrifical forces of nature.”
Similar problems exist with four wheelers who tail gate big rigs and when the trucker hits the brakes, if the other driver is not paying close enough attention he can end up “going through your DOT approved trailer bumper — and die.”
By the United Fresh Produce Association
The North American Produce Transportation Working Group (NAPTWG) will 
host a webinar on produce transportation best practices on Wednesday, July 18 at 11:00 am PT/2:00 pm ET. The session will give an overview of the best practices and delve into the roles and responsibilities of the shipper, carrier and receiver in facilitating a seamless, safe, and sustainable global supply-chain. Speakers include industry veterans with varied perspectives: Dan Vaché, vice president of supply chain management, United Fresh; Doug Stoiber, vice president, L&M Transportation Services, Inc.; Jim Gordon, operations manager, Ippolito Fruit & Produce LTD.; and Doug Nelson, special services manager, Blue Book Services, Inc. A question and answer period will follow the presentation and the session will be posted on the website as a resource.
“As summer quickly approaches, the webinar will be especially valuable to anyone involved in the movement of perishables and refrigerated cargo via truck,” said Dan Vaché, vice president of supply chain management for United Fresh. “It’s vital that the entire industry be on the same page when dealing with the movement of fresh fruits and vegetables. We need to ensure the cold chain remains intact and to prevent complications in the distribution and delivery of our fresh and wholesome products.”
Registration is complimentary to all interested parties. Register now!
This is the first in a series of educational webinars the NAPTWG will hold. For more information, please visit the NAPTWG website, or contact Dan Vaché, vice president of supply chain management, at 425-629-6271.
The North American Produce Transportation Working Group (NAPTWG) is comprised of more than 25 national and regional produce industry associations, transportation service providers, grower/shippers and perishable receivers. In cooperation with United Fresh Produce Association, NAPTWG works to provide best practice resources to those involved in the fresh produce supply chain.
Vegetable shipments out of Ontario province are gearing up. Sweet corn gets 
underway the first half of July, quickly followed by bell peppers, zucchini, cabbage, beets and tomatoes.
Ontario’s apple shipments will be pretty much non existent this season due a devastating April freeze. Nearly half of the asparagus also was wiped out.
Some of the major vegetables shippers are located around Windham Centre, Scotland, Bradford and Oakland Ontario. Many shipments to the USA are to mid-western markets.
In Quebec province, apples were hit by the same storm that visited Ontario, but losses were not as severe. The province is now shipping vegetables ranging from celery, to cauliflower and broccoli.
While a majority of the shipments remain regional in Canadian, there are loads moving to New England and as far south as New York. The Canadian vegetables are made even more attractive to some Northeastern USA receivers because of the savings over freight rates from the West Coast
By Larry Oscar
A great American from Fritch, Texas once said, “You can’t fix stupid.” Perhaps 
that has never been more true than in today’s global political arena. It’s hard to imagine more glaring examples of stupidity than we have witnessed in government leaders over the past few years. It was Forest Gump’s mother that said, “Stupid is as stupid does.”
That too has been duly noted in the actions of such leaders as Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi. The stupidity of Saddam was astounding. He would still be alive and the leader in Iraq if he had just let the UN inspectors back into his country, thrown them a party, and let them inspect and visit anything in the country their heart desired. In fact, he should have invited George Bush and Bill Clinton over for a bunga-bunga party. Instead he had to act tough and thumb his nose at the world. The result was he ended up swinging from a rope Texas style.
Now we have that little runt with a huge nose from Iran threatening to “Wipe Israel off of the face of the Earth.” And at the same time celebrating his country’s march toward nuclear technology that will ultimately end in nuclear weapons. What a complete fool. What would you do if your neighbor down the street threatened to “wipe you off of the face of the Earth,” and then proceeded to build a bomb in his garage. Would you wait until his bomb was complete before taking action? Would you sit idly by like the Jews did in World War II and just let him exterminate you? Or would you learn from history and defend yourself while you still had the power to do so?
It’s hard to imagine what goes through these bozo’s little minds. There are many roads to Rome. And if you want to accomplish things in life you need to study the roads toward your goal with some thought and circumstance. Emotions will be your worst enemy. The emotional route will almost certainly be the most costly for you. For example, the best way for the Muslim countries to deal with Israel is through friendship and trade and not through religious emotionalism. Take a look at Europe for example. Germany fought WWII to conquer Europe and what was the result? Their own destruction. However, by working hard as capitalists and establishing free trade, they now own Europe. They have now accomplished through Capitalism what they were unable to accomplish through the forces of war.
We are now at another crossroads in the world. We still have leaders that do not understand the power of capitalism or how it works. They are still preaching the failed promises of Socialism-Marxism and ignoring the historical failures of this philosophy such as the Soviet Union, East Germany, North Korea, Greece, and Cuba. The only conclusion you can come to is that they are blinded by their own stubborn stupidity. No system is perfect. And all systems of government will leave some people behind, but only Capitalism lets the people use their creative talents to the fullest, and that generates the greatest wealth for the greatest numbers.
Without Capitalism we would not have had Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Tiger Woods, or Oprah Winfrey. We are now facing a critical election; one that will determine if we are to retain a Socialist-Marxist leaning President who thinks that we should all have equal amounts of “stuff,” and that the government should tell us what to eat and how to live our lives.
Or do we move forward and choose a new President that will remove the burdensome weight of this government from our backs, and let us live free creative lives according to our own abilities as the founding fathers of this country envisioned. There are always risks in life. None of us has a guarantee that we will even be alive tomorrow, but one thing is for sure, if we are not free to develop the talents that are given to us by God, then we will pay a price far greater than life itself.
This nation has the richest poor on the face of the Earth. We have the only poor people with big screen TVs, cell phones, cars, and air conditioned housing. We will always have the poor, and it is Capitalism that will keep them from living in mud huts like they do in other countries! The best way to redistribute wealth is with a paycheck, and not a welfare check. If you want tomatoes you have to grow healthy tomato plants. If you want jobs you must grow healthy corporations, and not a bloated overgrown government that is funded with borrowed money!
Normally we would see a bump in rates for hauling produce as the Fourth of 
July holiday approaches – when Independence Day falls on any day but Wednesday. This is not to say there will not be a increase in produce rates, but some observers are saying it may not be as high, or may not even occur this year for the holiday. Regardless, strong demand for refrigerated equipment will continue before and after the Fourth, and rates are expected to remain healthy in the coming weeks.
In Southeastern Arkansas, peak tomato shipments are continuing. While it has been an excellent growing season, triple digit temperatures have moved in. If the extreme heat continues the mid July conclusion to tomato shipments may happen even before that.
In Virginia, some are not aware the state ranks fourth nationally in tomato shipments, and 6th nationally in potato, apple and snap bean volume.
Moving to the Northwest, Washington state cherry shipments are in heavy volume. Loadings should continue until September and the state is on a course for record shipments.
In California, rates have had only minor fluctuations since early June. The Salinas Valley has lighter than usual volume with broccoli and cauliflower, plus lettuce shipments have been hampered as East Coast receivers took advantage of coastal shipping areas such as New Jersey, which started weeks earlier than normal. This put Eastern lettuce shipments on a collision coarse with West Coast lettuce shipments. Eastern receivers could save $7 to $8 per carton on lettuce, just on shipping costs, when they purchased eastern lettuce as opposed to that product from California.
Salinas Valley vegetables – grossing about $8500 to New York City
If you haul produce for the supermarket chain Safeway, you may have noticed 
fresh fruits and vegetable being hauled are loaded into your refrigerated trailer using reusable product containers (RPCs). The chain’s press release states it allows more product to be loaded into the trailer. It does not address the question of whether this adds more weight to the load, and if so, whether the truck is paid more for that additional weight (yeah, right!). Regardless RPCs are good for the envirnoment. Here’s the Safeway press release and you can decide for yourself.
**********
Safeway Inc. announced that it has transitioned to using reusable product containers rather than corrugated boxes to ship many types of produce from the farm fields, through the distribution channel and to final store destination. This transition eliminated the use of over 17 million pounds of corrugated boxes.
RPCs can be stacked higher and more densely than traditional boxes, allowing for more efficient shipping and requiring fewer trips to transport the same amount of product. This, in turn, decreases trucking emissions and traffic volume.
Safeway, which has introduced a broad range of successful sustainability practices across its operations, has used RPCs for decades on many of its consumer brand categories, including bread, milk and soda. The company began testing RPCs in its distribution system for fresh wet-pack produce — fruits and vegetables kept on ice until they reach the store — in early 2010.
Making the transition for produce was a more complicated process than for other products because, to make it effective and decrease cardboard usage, Safeway’s distributors and grower partners also had to commit to the switch. The transition continued throughout 2011.
Today, many types of produce travel from the field to the distributor to Safeway’s product distribution centers and to the final store location in RPCs. The company’s major supplier of RPCs, IFCO Systems, said that Safeway’s implementation of RPC usage to decrease waste was the fastest and most aggressive program rollout to date.
Safeway’s vice president of transportation, Tom Nartker, said that employing environmentally friendly methods of product distribution is part of Safeway’s overall commitment to sustainable business practices.
“This expansion into produce is a natural extension of best practices in logistics,” Mr. Nartker said in a press release. “Safeway will continue to look for opportunities to expand the usage of RPCs into additional categories to have an even greater positive environmental impact.”
The use of reusable, sustainable containers not only keeps non-recyclable shipping containers out of the supply chain, but it also has an even greater positive environmental impact.
According to Safeway, the positive environmental effects include eliminating the use of over 17 million pounds of corrugated boxes, avoiding the harvesting of approximately 114,000 trees and reduced emissions of 37,518 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from the environment, equivalent to removing 6,872 passenger cars off the road.
While 90 percent of Michigan apple shipments for the upcoming season were 
lost to freeze, the state should have more loads of blueberries this summer, plus a near normal volume with vegetables. Blueberries should be up over 10 percent from last year (81 million pounds is forecast). However, cherry shipments are pegged at only 1 million pounds, down over 70 percent from a year ago.
Otherwise, volume with vegetables have been increasing during June and should hit peak shipments in July. Veggies, which avoided the freeze damage to apples, started in early June with radishes and turnips. Since then various types of leafy lettuces, zucchini, and cabbage have become available. There also are greens and cilantro. Warm weather is expected to bring on grape and roma tomatoes in mid-July, followed by sweet corn in early August, two weeks or more earlier than usual.
Fred Plotsky and his staff at Cool Runnings arrange about 8,000 loads a year. He sees the biggest issue facing trucker is financing, followed by the rules and regulations on the trucking industry.
“However,” he adds, “If you can’t get the financing, the rules and regulations don’t matter.”
The president of Cool Runnings, based in Kenosha, WI, says truckers are facing rising costs with everything from tires to fuel and labor. An engine overhaul that was $13,000 two years ago now costs $20,000 to $21,000. The mechanics who work on those diesel engines have hourly rates that have increased from $60 to $100 per hour.
While the produce rates have gone up in recent weeks, the price of disel fuel remains high as well. For example, Fred says a truck averaging five miles per gallon, running 3,700 miles per week, at today’s diesel prices, that is costing $3,000 a week, which is hard to finance.
While Cool Runnings charges a two percent fee for advances on loads, Fred points out a lot of truck brokers charge three to five percent.
“The broker has to borrow to finance advance loads. The bank is not loaning you that money for free,” Fred states. “Financing is tight. You either pay the bank, or the broker for the cash advance. It is going to cost you more either way.”
It used to be the average cash advance was around $500 to $700 for the fuel to cover a trip from Idaho to Chicago. The advances are around $1,500.
“You are talking two percent of $1,500 when it used to be two percent of $700. The truckers have to find a way to finance this themselves, while the others who do not figure it out fall by the wayside,” Fred says.
Cool Runnings works with a lot of owner operators and small fleet operations. “The guys who used to have 20 trucks now own eight or 10. If he had 10 trucks, now he only has three or four trucks,” Fred says. “They just don’t care anymore. They’ll say, `I’m tired of fighting the rules and regulations and everything else.'”
One example of excessive government interference, Fred notes, are the CARB (California Air Resources Board) rules in California. The requirements, some of which have to do with reducing emissions, increase the costs of operation and is make it very difficult for truckers to comply, much less continue to operate profitably.
He knows one trucker who delivers freight to Utah and runs to Idaho and to pick up potatoes and French fries for delivery to Chicago. That trucker receives a consistent, steady fair rate. The trucker also does not have to comply with California’s CARB rules.
“Now that those rules are stabilized, just don’t keep changing them,” Fred states.
Cool Runnings History
Although it has been nearly 26 years, it seems almost like yesterday when I first met Fred Plotsky. I was riding in a car with a friend and business associate named Gary Robinson in Highland Park, IL during a week I was working in Chicago. Gary had just sold his truck brokerage, Cool Runnings.
How would you like to meet the new owner of Cool Runnings? He’s really a great guy,” Gary asked me. In a moment, Gary had Fred dialed up on his car phone. I met up with Fred later that day and the rest is history. We have been friends ever since.
Fred and I immediately found a few things in common. We both had an interest in produce trucking for starters. Both of us loved to fish. Fred goes after northern pike, especially on fishing expeditions to Canada, while this southern boy prefers the warmer climates and large mouth (you might find Fred reporting to work at the Cool Runnings offices in Kenosha, WI, wearing shorts in January).
Fred also has love for listening to radio, and only a few months earlier in 1986 I had launched the Produce Truckers Network and had two radio stations airing it — WRVA in Richmond, VA with Big John Trimble and WMAQ in Chicago with Fred Sanders.
Both of us are sports fans with Fred a great follower of the Chicago White Sox and the Milwaukee Brewers. He is forgiving of my support of St. Louis Cardinals.
Over the years I’ve learned to respect Fred as a loving husband, great father, little league baseball coach — and a fair and honest businessman.
It has sort of become a tradition with Fred and I to occasionally have lunch together — usually involving chicken wings and root beer. It was during such a recent visit, Fred shared some thoughts on Cool Runnings, which he has owned since July 1986, as well as what is happening with the trucking industry, and what he views as the major concerns and issues with the professionals driving the big rigs. — By Bill Martin
During some summers when produce shipments are in peak volume, so much product needs to be moved, and the demand for refrigerated equipment is so great, that already high rates then go through roof. It certainly has not happened this summer, and if anything, produce rates declined leading up to the Fourth of July holiday. The Fourth, being on a Wednesday, is felt by some to lessening the impact on rates.
Rates from major some shipping areas, for example in California, dropped 5 to 10 percent and more from the San Joaquin Valley, Salinas Valley, and Santa Maria.
A number of factors apparently resulted in the lower, although still healthy produce rates. For example, stone fruit shipments out of the San Joaquin Valley are down this year, freeing up some equipment. Other areas are shipping a lot less produce than normal such as Michigan (with fruit) and many Southeastern (watermelons, bluesberries and vegetables) states and in the South (Texas watermelons and melons in loutheastern states).
Still, the heaviest produce volume, on a national basis, usually occurs between May and August – and that still holds true this year.
In California, table grape shipments are winding down in the Coachella Valley, but the big volume is yet to come – from the San Joaquin Valley. Grapes have started from the Arvin (Bakersfield) district….The Salinas Valley remains heavy with vegetables shipments.
Southeastern Arkansas is in peak loadings with tomatoes.
Kentucky and Tennessee are now shipping tomatoes, zucchi, strawberries and peppers. Most shipments are on a regional basis.
Although we usually don’t think too much about ports and imported produce this time of year, various ports around the U.S. are receiving summer citrus. for example, there are arrivals of navel oranges from Peru. There is various types of citrus arriving from South Africa, Argentina, and Uruguay.
San Joaquin Valley fruit and vegetables – grossing about $7,500 to New York City.
South Texas watermelons – $3000 to Chicago.
2012 may be a year many Michigan produce shippers will prefer to forget, not to mention for produce haulers who like to haul out of this state.
Your best opportunities this summer will be with Michigan vegetables, which have been mostly unaffected by adverse weather. Normal volume is seen and shipments will continue into the fall. Another plus is with blueberries. As a top shipper of “blues” in the country, Michigan blueberries are forecast at about 80 to 90 million pounds, which is pretty normal.
On the downside is with other fruit. Michigan ranks in the top five in apple shipments, but certainly will not this year. Very few new crop apples survivied the April freeze. Any apples you load in next few weeks will be the last remains from the 2011-12 season. The state’s cherry shipments were also clobbered by weather, with 85 to 90 percent of the cherries wiped out. Heavy hits also were suffered with the state’s peaches and grapes.
The strong, but seasonal produce trucking rates off the West Coast sound pretty good, until one starts to consider what it takes to get a Westbound freight haul. The hard economic times in the USA has taken its toll on many truckers. Some in trucking report dry freight grossing as little as $2000 from the Mid-west to California.
Bradley Cook drives a truck for Frank’s Transport, a one-truck operation out of North Miami Beach, FL. HaulProduce.com recently caught up with him at a Flying J Truck Stop, after delivering a load of juice. He was hoping to get a load of freight out of Tulsa, OK for the West Coast to pick up a load of produce.
The 35-year-old has been trucking either long haul or locally since 1998, and this is about as tough as he has seen it.
“I’m working this truck like a dog trying to make ends meets,” he says, pointing to the conventional Peterbilt he is driving. The owner operator he is driving for once had three trucks, but now it is down this single tractor.
It is not easy when outbound dry freight is paying only $1.35 to $1.40 per mile, while eastbound produce loads are grossing about $2.25 per mile, “if you are lucky. The people paying for the East bound (produce) want to pay you the Westbound rates,” he says, “although they pay the better rates because they have little choice.”
It also does not help that other produce shipping areas often do not pay that well. He cites per mile rates of out of Florida being $1.25, while Texas loads are averaging about $1.50 per mile. The high cost of number 2 diesel fuel only makes it worse.
“The price of fuel is so high the produce people and everyone else are relying on the freight charges of 20 years to help make up for it (cost of deliveries),” Bradley says.
Adding to the challenges of hauling produce are the delays in loading and unloading the often occur.
“With produce, I often face delays anywhere from one to eight hours. The product may still be in fields, even though I’m at the facility on time to load,” Bradley states. “I am picking up in California and supposed to deliver in Massachusetts. If I am late for delivery (because of loading delays), that Massachusetts receiver will not pay full price for that load upon arrival.”
Another primary “beef” with Bradley is dealing with four wheelers, and particularly those driving cars who cut off big rigs.
If a wheeler cuts me off then hits the brakes, I’m going to hit my brakes, but I can’t stop on a dime. I’ll end up going five truck lengths through that guy’s vehicle,” Bradely states.
In some Western states he notes speed limits on some highways are 80 mph. “You can cut me off, and I’m going to end up killing you (with my truck, which can’t stop),” he says.
Bradley believes as part of obtaining a driver’s license four wheelers should have to ride in big rig for three weeks to get a better understanding of what it is like to operate an 18 wheeler and “experience the centrifical forces of nature.”
Similar problems exist with four wheelers who tail gate big rigs and when the trucker hits the brakes, if the other driver is not paying close enough attention he can end up “going through your DOT approved trailer bumper — and die.”
By the United Fresh Produce Association
The North American Produce Transportation Working Group (NAPTWG) will host a webinar on produce transportation best practices on Wednesday, July 18 at 11:00 am PT/2:00 pm ET. The session will give an overview of the best practices and delve into the roles and responsibilities of the shipper, carrier and receiver in facilitating a seamless, safe, and sustainable global supply-chain. Speakers include industry veterans with varied perspectives: Dan Vaché, vice president of supply chain management, United Fresh; Doug Stoiber, vice president, L&M Transportation Services, Inc.; Jim Gordon, operations manager, Ippolito Fruit & Produce LTD.; and Doug Nelson, special services manager, Blue Book Services, Inc. A question and answer period will follow the presentation and the session will be posted on the website as a resource.
“As summer quickly approaches, the webinar will be especially valuable to anyone involved in the movement of perishables and refrigerated cargo via truck,” said Dan Vaché, vice president of supply chain management for United Fresh. “It’s vital that the entire industry be on the same page when dealing with the movement of fresh fruits and vegetables. We need to ensure the cold chain remains intact and to prevent complications in the distribution and delivery of our fresh and wholesome products.”
Registration is complimentary to all interested parties. Register now!
This is the first in a series of educational webinars the NAPTWG will hold. For more information, please visit the NAPTWG website, or contact Dan Vaché, vice president of supply chain management, at 425-629-6271.
The North American Produce Transportation Working Group (NAPTWG) is comprised of more than 25 national and regional produce industry associations, transportation service providers, grower/shippers and perishable receivers. In cooperation with United Fresh Produce Association, NAPTWG works to provide best practice resources to those involved in the fresh produce supply chain.
Vegetable shipments out of Ontario province are gearing up. Sweet corn gets underway the first half of July, quickly followed by bell peppers, zucchini, cabbage, beets and tomatoes.
Ontario’s apple shipments will be pretty much non existent this season due a devastating April freeze. Nearly half of the asparagus also was wiped out.
Some of the major vegetables shippers are located around Windham Centre, Scotland, Bradford and Oakland Ontario. Many shipments to the USA are to mid-western markets.
In Quebec province, apples were hit by the same storm that visited Ontario, but losses were not as severe. The province is now shipping vegetables ranging from celery, to cauliflower and broccoli.
While a majority of the shipments remain regional in Canadian, there are loads moving to New England and as far south as New York. The Canadian vegetables are made even more attractive to some Northeastern USA receivers because of the savings over freight rates from the West Coast
By Larry Oscar
A great American from Fritch, Texas once said, “You can’t fix stupid.” Perhaps that has never been more true than in today’s global political arena. It’s hard to imagine more glaring examples of stupidity than we have witnessed in government leaders over the past few years. It was Forest Gump’s mother that said, “Stupid is as stupid does.”
That too has been duly noted in the actions of such leaders as Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi. The stupidity of Saddam was astounding. He would still be alive and the leader in Iraq if he had just let the UN inspectors back into his country, thrown them a party, and let them inspect and visit anything in the country their heart desired. In fact, he should have invited George Bush and Bill Clinton over for a bunga-bunga party. Instead he had to act tough and thumb his nose at the world. The result was he ended up swinging from a rope Texas style.
Now we have that little runt with a huge nose from Iran threatening to “Wipe Israel off of the face of the Earth.” And at the same time celebrating his country’s march toward nuclear technology that will ultimately end in nuclear weapons. What a complete fool. What would you do if your neighbor down the street threatened to “wipe you off of the face of the Earth,” and then proceeded to build a bomb in his garage. Would you wait until his bomb was complete before taking action? Would you sit idly by like the Jews did in World War II and just let him exterminate you? Or would you learn from history and defend yourself while you still had the power to do so?
It’s hard to imagine what goes through these bozo’s little minds. There are many roads to Rome. And if you want to accomplish things in life you need to study the roads toward your goal with some thought and circumstance. Emotions will be your worst enemy. The emotional route will almost certainly be the most costly for you. For example, the best way for the Muslim countries to deal with Israel is through friendship and trade and not through religious emotionalism. Take a look at Europe for example. Germany fought WWII to conquer Europe and what was the result? Their own destruction. However, by working hard as capitalists and establishing free trade, they now own Europe. They have now accomplished through Capitalism what they were unable to accomplish through the forces of war.
We are now at another crossroads in the world. We still have leaders that do not understand the power of capitalism or how it works. They are still preaching the failed promises of Socialism-Marxism and ignoring the historical failures of this philosophy such as the Soviet Union, East Germany, North Korea, Greece, and Cuba. The only conclusion you can come to is that they are blinded by their own stubborn stupidity. No system is perfect. And all systems of government will leave some people behind, but only Capitalism lets the people use their creative talents to the fullest, and that generates the greatest wealth for the greatest numbers.
Without Capitalism we would not have had Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Tiger Woods, or Oprah Winfrey. We are now facing a critical election; one that will determine if we are to retain a Socialist-Marxist leaning President who thinks that we should all have equal amounts of “stuff,” and that the government should tell us what to eat and how to live our lives.
Or do we move forward and choose a new President that will remove the burdensome weight of this government from our backs, and let us live free creative lives according to our own abilities as the founding fathers of this country envisioned. There are always risks in life. None of us has a guarantee that we will even be alive tomorrow, but one thing is for sure, if we are not free to develop the talents that are given to us by God, then we will pay a price far greater than life itself.
This nation has the richest poor on the face of the Earth. We have the only poor people with big screen TVs, cell phones, cars, and air conditioned housing. We will always have the poor, and it is Capitalism that will keep them from living in mud huts like they do in other countries! The best way to redistribute wealth is with a paycheck, and not a welfare check. If you want tomatoes you have to grow healthy tomato plants. If you want jobs you must grow healthy corporations, and not a bloated overgrown government that is funded with borrowed money!
Normally we would see a bump in rates for hauling produce as the Fourth of July holiday approaches – when Independence Day falls on any day but Wednesday. This is not to say there will not be a increase in produce rates, but some observers are saying it may not be as high, or may not even occur this year for the holiday. Regardless, strong demand for refrigerated equipment will continue before and after the Fourth, and rates are expected to remain healthy in the coming weeks.
In Southeastern Arkansas, peak tomato shipments are continuing. While it has been an excellent growing season, triple digit temperatures have moved in. If the extreme heat continues the mid July conclusion to tomato shipments may happen even before that.
In Virginia, some are not aware the state ranks fourth nationally in tomato shipments, and 6th nationally in potato, apple and snap bean volume.
Moving to the Northwest, Washington state cherry shipments are in heavy volume. Loadings should continue until September and the state is on a course for record shipments.
In California, rates have had only minor fluctuations since early June. The Salinas Valley has lighter than usual volume with broccoli and cauliflower, plus lettuce shipments have been hampered as East Coast receivers took advantage of coastal shipping areas such as New Jersey, which started weeks earlier than normal. This put Eastern lettuce shipments on a collision coarse with West Coast lettuce shipments. Eastern receivers could save $7 to $8 per carton on lettuce, just on shipping costs, when they purchased eastern lettuce as opposed to that product from California.
Salinas Valley vegetables – grossing about $8500 to New York City
If you haul produce for the supermarket chain Safeway, you may have noticed fresh fruits and vegetable being hauled are loaded into your refrigerated trailer using reusable product containers (RPCs). The chain’s press release states it allows more product to be loaded into the trailer. It does not address the question of whether this adds more weight to the load, and if so, whether the truck is paid more for that additional weight (yeah, right!). Regardless RPCs are good for the envirnoment. Here’s the Safeway press release and you can decide for yourself.
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Safeway Inc. announced that it has transitioned to using reusable product containers rather than corrugated boxes to ship many types of produce from the farm fields, through the distribution channel and to final store destination. This transition eliminated the use of over 17 million pounds of corrugated boxes.
RPCs can be stacked higher and more densely than traditional boxes, allowing for more efficient shipping and requiring fewer trips to transport the same amount of product. This, in turn, decreases trucking emissions and traffic volume.
Safeway, which has introduced a broad range of successful sustainability practices across its operations, has used RPCs for decades on many of its consumer brand categories, including bread, milk and soda. The company began testing RPCs in its distribution system for fresh wet-pack produce — fruits and vegetables kept on ice until they reach the store — in early 2010.
Making the transition for produce was a more complicated process than for other products because, to make it effective and decrease cardboard usage, Safeway’s distributors and grower partners also had to commit to the switch. The transition continued throughout 2011.
Today, many types of produce travel from the field to the distributor to Safeway’s product distribution centers and to the final store location in RPCs. The company’s major supplier of RPCs, IFCO Systems, said that Safeway’s implementation of RPC usage to decrease waste was the fastest and most aggressive program rollout to date.
Safeway’s vice president of transportation, Tom Nartker, said that employing environmentally friendly methods of product distribution is part of Safeway’s overall commitment to sustainable business practices.
“This expansion into produce is a natural extension of best practices in logistics,” Mr. Nartker said in a press release. “Safeway will continue to look for opportunities to expand the usage of RPCs into additional categories to have an even greater positive environmental impact.”
The use of reusable, sustainable containers not only keeps non-recyclable shipping containers out of the supply chain, but it also has an even greater positive environmental impact.
According to Safeway, the positive environmental effects include eliminating the use of over 17 million pounds of corrugated boxes, avoiding the harvesting of approximately 114,000 trees and reduced emissions of 37,518 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from the environment, equivalent to removing 6,872 passenger cars off the road.
While 90 percent of Michigan apple shipments for the upcoming season were lost to freeze, the state should have more loads of blueberries this summer, plus a near normal volume with vegetables. Blueberries should be up over 10 percent from last year (81 million pounds is forecast). However, cherry shipments are pegged at only 1 million pounds, down over 70 percent from a year ago.
Otherwise, volume with vegetables have been increasing during June and should hit peak shipments in July. Veggies, which avoided the freeze damage to apples, started in early June with radishes and turnips. Since then various types of leafy lettuces, zucchini, and cabbage have become available. There also are greens and cilantro. Warm weather is expected to bring on grape and roma tomatoes in mid-July, followed by sweet corn in early August, two weeks or more earlier than usual.