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I’ve recently returned from a produce show in Dallas and although freight rates on 
California produce loads have recently been steady, or in some cases declining a little, most people I’ve talked to (shippers, wholesalers, truck brokers, trucking companies) only see this as the calm before the storm. In coming weeks as volume builds throughout many California shipping districts, they are expecting rates to show significant increases. $9000 produce rates from the West Coast to the East Coast are expected to be common. Some would not be surprised if rates hit $10,000.
Here’s the outlook for loading opportunities on the huge volume of summer fruit that annually is shipped from California.
Strawberries – Mostly available right now out of Southern California and to a lesser degree from Santa Maria. Yet California ships 88 percent of the nation’s strawberries and it really cranks up in a few weeks when Watsonville starts shipping in volume.
Blueberries – These berries are now being loaded out of the Arvin district and as the season progresses will move northward in the San Joaquin Valley to Delano and Kingsburg. California expects to ship 15 to 20 million pounds of “blues” this year.
Melons – watermelon and honeydew from the Bakersfield area kicks off in mid-June, followed by cantaloupes around July 1st.
Stone Fruit – It was in 2008 around 60-million 25-pound cartons of peaches, plums and nectarines were shipped, but last year loadings were down to an estimated 47 million cartons. Don’t expect anymore this year. California has been shipping too much stone fruit that doesn’t taste very good, and are replacing some orchards with improved varieties….Cherries are a different story. Californians know how to grow good tasting cherries! This year the state should be loading decent volumes of cherries by the third week of May. Shipments should be in the 8 to 10-million box range; 12-million boxes in the unlikely event perfect weather continues.
Table Grapes – The Coachella Valley is currently shipping grapes and will continue through June. Shipments will then transition to the Arvin/Bakersfield district, where the huge volume will begin and gradually moves northward through the San Joaquin Valley. California may have record shipments this year, and top 100-million boxes for the first time.
Apples – California isn’t really known for apple shipments as it is dwarfed by Washington state. However, it does have 16,000 acres of orchards and available loads should be similar to last year. Shipments of the gala variety begins in late July and runs through mid-September. This variety will be followed by granny smiths in August and and fujis in September and cripps pink in October.
Oranges – The 75-million-plus cartons of navels are pretty much history for this year, while smaller loadings of valencias are now being shipped. About 28 million, 40-pound boxes of valencias should be shipped.
My home state of Oklahoma just opened the first of eight new weigh stations April 27th and was very proud of the fact it nailed its 
first overweight big rig within an hour of its opening. State officials would only say the truck was significantly over the 80,000-pound gross vehicle weight limit at the new $11 million port of entry, located just south of the Kansas-Oklahoma state line on I-35. Oklahoma officials also are very excited that the next new weigh station will be opening soon on I-40, in Western Oklahoma just east of the Texas state line. This weigh station will “only” cost $8.7 million.
The Oklahoma Department of Transportation and other Okie bureaucrats are very excited and can’t wait to get the all eight new port of entries in operation and start racking in the dough. Afterall, it’s going to take a lot of fines to cover those millions and millions of dollars to build these weigh stations. These new facilities also will be equipped with a lot high tech equipment ranging from weigh-in-motion that weighs big rigs at highway speeds (at least on I-35); license plate readers; automatic checks of truck registration and safety rating, among many other features.
Oklahoma officials cite the need for replacing 50-year-old existing weigh stations to protect the state’s investment in highways, bridges and city streets, as well as making the roads safer for motorists.
These are fine, good and honorable goals. Let’s just make sure these are the true goals, and that they are not tempted to start issuing fines, and putting truckers out-of-service for less than honorable reasons. We all know, safety inspectors can be very picky and cause a lot of problems for drivers, even for minor infractions. I’m not saying this will happen, but when there’s bills to be paid to help justify these new ports of entry, one never knows.
Going from East to West with U.S. produce shipping areas, in Florida I’m not sure why 
rates are little, if any more to Boston than to New York City. Afterall, you’ve got another 200 miles to Boston from Florida. Of course, Boston traditionally offers fewer return loads. So if you can gross $3600 to New York, surely a load of Florida vegetables, melons etc. should be getting close to $4000.
Southern Georgia shipments are cranking up with peppers, squash, greens and cabbage, while Southeastern Georgia Vidalia onions are in full shipping mode. Overall, expect Vidalia onion loadings to be off 20 to 30 percent this season due to disease.
In South Texas, sweet onion shipments are two to three weeks ahead of schedule and should be pretty much finished around May 10th. The Lower Rio Grande Valley also is loading items ranging from citrus, to beets, greens, cabbage, etc.
There are steady shipments of Idaho potatoes — grossing about $4200 to Atlanta.
The same holds for storage onions from the Idaho and Malhuer County, Oregon region — grossing about $5400 to Baltimore.
South Texas produce – about $2800 to Los Angeles.
Vidalia, GA onions – about $2600 to Chicago.
By Larry Oscar
When hard economic times hit a nation it always seems to bring out the best and also the worst in people. Anyone with a good job or business should stand
back and give thanks from time to time for the successes and also the lessons of life’s failures. For without success, there is no sense of accomplishment and without failure there is no sense of humility. For each of us to be a more complete human being we need to take ourselves to task from time to time.
Personal responsibility for our own lives is paramount. I never cease to be amazed at how some people drop out of school, steal, get involved with drugs, slovenly go through life thinking society owes them something, and make constant demands for free handouts. And others, who suffer real tragedy in their lives, always work hard to overcome their problems and manage a smile. Recently we have seen greedy union members demand more benefits for themselves in demonstrations and rallies throughout the nation. They yell, chant, and thrust signs in the air demanding higher wages and more social benefits. I suspect more will follow. They never promise an increase in their productivity to actually earn an increase in their wages. They don’t want to stand on their own two feet and be held accountable for their own skills and quality of their own work. Instead they want some big union boss to make threats on companies who are trying to just survive in a stressful economy.
Our government educational system also reeks with these type of people. The school systems have become a haven for slothful and greedy adults who do not want to be held accountable for their performance, and yet they demand that public school systems provide them with a guaranteed lifetime handout. Their attitude is “who cares about the children, I want a guaranteed lifetime job with a fat pension.” They have no concern for their customers. In fact, I wager that very few of them even know who their customer is. They are pathetic human beings.
Then there are those who demonstrate, by their actions, the content of their good character. Recently I was in need of canvas winch covers for a boat. Nothing fancy, or very expensive, just a good quality product at a fair price would suffice. I found some on an internet auction and ordered them. The person who made them did a superb job, and also insisted that if the quality did not meet what I was looking for that my money would be refunded. I was so impressed with the service and quality that I ordered more. A few months later I inquired if there was a website where I could order them from, and if other canvas products were available. This was her reply: “I can sew anything for a boat, I owned and operated a shop for 12 years called “Canvas and Sail.” I even built sails and repaired them. I built the big glass enclosures on yachts. I did it all. Then one fall shattered it all and I have spent nine years, and several surgeries, getting strong enough to do it again. I can’t do big, heavy jobs anymore, but stuff like wheel covers, sail repair, and the little stuff I can do. I’m grateful for every job I get, and if it isn’t right I’ll make it again. I’m still real disabled but love sailing, and sewing is how I take care of myself. My husband died and I am alone, and we all have to eat, so I am so grateful for every job I get. Thank you so much, I will always do my best for you at whatever you need made for your boat. I’ve made thousands of awnings too, and did all the coast guard stuff on their boats for years until I fell on a boat. Thanks a bunch.”
This is a true American. She had obviously been successful in her life and business. Then tragedy struck. She is still recovering from it, and she is a determined soul. She’s not only fighting to pay her own way in life, but she’s thankful for what she has, and she takes great personal pride in her work. She’s not asking for a handout. She is taking personal responsibility for herself and earning her way through life. Just when you think all Americans have turned into a bunch of whining beggars, along comes a true American who restores your faith in what this nation was originally founded on, guts and determination to succeed. We were founded by people who fought life’s tragedies and hardships and won. We should help those who are willing to help themselves, and we should kick the others in their large oversized buttocks! Oh, by the way, if your looking for some high quality canvas products for your boat, check out…
http://motors.shop.ebay.com/lindamay2006/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=
By OOIDA
(Grain Valley, Mo., April 25, 2012) – Despite being previously struck down by a federal court, a costly and unnecessary mandate has been included in the 
U.S. Senate’s highway surface transportation funding legislation.
U.S. truckers see it as the last thing a struggling trucking industry needs right now and want to see it removed from the bill.
A provision in S.1813, also known as MAP-21, requires all long-haul trucks to be outfitted with electronic on-board recorders, or EOBRs, capable of real-time tracking for monitoring of trucks and drivers. The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), the largest trade organization representing professional truckers and small-business truckers, contends EOBRs are an unproven technology, providing no cost benefit or highway safety improvement.
“It’s exorbitantly expensive while providing no safety benefit whatsoever,” says Todd Spencer, OOIDA executive vice president. “This is being done under the guise of compliance with federal hours-of-service regulations, but it is actually a way for large motor carrier companies to squeeze more ‘productivity’ out of drivers and increase costs for the small trucking companies they compete with,” said Spencer.
A regulatory version of an EOBR mandate was struck down by a federal Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit because the FMCSA failed to deal with the harassment of drivers. Noted in that ruling was the fact that no research has shown how such a mandate would do anything to improve highway safety.
“EOBRs are no more reliable than paper log books for tracking hours of service,” said Spencer. “The device only tracks when the wheels are moving, not taking into consideration the colossal waiting times spent by truck drivers at shipping docks. Plus, we hear every day from truckers whose companies use the devices to harass truckers into driving more hours.”
The current EOBR rulemaking has been estimated by the Obama administration to cost the industry $2 billion if enacted. In response to a request made by U.S. House Speaker John Boehner to disclose all rulemakings in excess of $1 billion, President Obama listed the current EOBR rulemaking as one of the seven most expensive regulations pursued by the administration.
“It is more than twice the cost of hours-of-service regulations, which by the way are still in flux and not truly finalized. Yet the FMCSA presses on, seeking additional authority from Congress for yet another mandate,” said Spencer.
OOIDA sent a letter to the Senate conferees April 25th on behalf of its members expressing all of these concerns.
There’s some really sweet, tasty late season grapes from Chile in your produce department now. Enjoy them while they last, because 
the season for these imports are just about over…..Never fear though, grapes from Mexico should start arriving in your supermarkets within the next couple of weeks. There also will be the first domestic grapes arriving, from the Coachella Valley near Palm Springs, CA. Many retailers I’ve spoken with actually prefer the Mexican grapes over the Coachella grapes. Keep in mind that a lot of the Mexican grapes are actually owned, or financially backed by grape growers from the U.S. — especially from California.
I’ve been a little disappointed overall with California strawberries thus far. Some have been better than others, but overall, the quality could be better…..Of course, I have to qualify this since I shop at a small town Wal-Mart, with absolutely not competition. Wal-Mart’s produce departments have really went down hill in the past several years.
You should be finding those wonderful sweet onions in your stores by now — especially those from Vidalia, GA. Of course, Texas grows some pretty good sweet onions as well.
Whether talking the desert areas of the Imperial or Coachella Valleys, or 
Southern California to Ventura County, Bakersfield, and on to Santa Maria and Salinas, produce is being shipped. Granted, not all the areas are in full harvest, but shipping areas are abundant. It will only get better for produce haulers in the weeks ahead as demand for refrigerated equipment increases and rates climb accordingly.
In the desert, you’ll find bell peppers, beans and sweet corn in both the Imperial Valley and the Coachella Valley. Cantaloupe loadings begin in a couple of weeks or so. Also, the Coachella Valley ships the first domestic grapes in the U.S. each year. Coachella grape loadings will begin a week to 10 days earlier than normal this year — around the first week of May. Loadings should continue through June, with about 9 million cartons forecast.
California cherry shipments begin from the central and south areas of the San Joaquin Valley the first half of May, but expect shipments to be lighter than normal. Heaviest cherry loading opportunities come with the later bing cherry variety from the Stockton-Linden-Lodi area. Overall, unless Mother Nature does a whack job on these perishable beauties, California should ship 8.5 to 9 million boxes of cherries, the most in a decade!
California desert vegetables – grossing about $7200 to New York City.
If you haul cantaloupes out of the Rocky Ford area of Colorado during the 
summer, better look for something else this year. Thanks to the 2011 outbreak of listeria at Jensen Farms that killed 32 people and sickened others in 28 states, melon shipments from this area will be much less this year. Acreage from this district in southeastern Colorado will amount to only 500 acres, compared to about 2,000 acres of cantaloupe each year before the disasterous outbreak.
The Colorado cantaloupe industry has taken steps to improve their food safety programs, including having safety audits by the Colorado Department of Agriculture. Still, it’s too late, the damage has been done. The whole cantaloupe industry in the United States suffered because of the lax safety standards of a company, not to mention lives lost and ruined. As consumers become more confident, cantaloupe shipments will return to Rocky Ford as they had in the past, and other shipping areas around the country will recover as well.
It’s kind of like having one careless driver acting like a an idiot in an 18 wheeler. The whole trucking industry’s image suffers — deserved or not.
Produce shipments from the Huron District in the San Joaquin Valley, as well 
as loads out of the Salinas Valley have returned to normal following disruptions due to rain. The seasonal transition of the lettuce harvest and loadings out of Huron are quickly shifting from Huron to Salinas. Volume is building from the Salinas Valley, not only with lettuce, but other vegetables, and should become heavy in May.
Here’s an update on San Joaquin Valley stone fruit shipments that get underway soon. Both peaches and nectarines usally start by late April, with plums coming on in May. Expect peach and nectarine loading opportunities this season to be off 20 percent due to hail. There was a 20-mile-long swath of the storm cutting through from Southwest of Kingsburg going east to south of Dinuba and Reedly. Shippers with stone fruit orchards you may load with in this area were adversely affected the most.
Looking ahead to the Bakersfield, Kern County shipping area, potato shipping will get underway the second week of May with red, yellow and russet spuds. This will be followed by watermelon loads becoming available in early June, while table grape shipments get started in early July…..Meanwhile steady shipments of carrots are continuing from this area.
Salinas Valley vegetables – grossing about $7000 to New York City.
Supplies of refrigerated a equipment are tightening some as we get further into 
spring. How big a shortage of trucks for hauling produce will be this year will start to reveal itself in the weeks ahead and should be really interesting by late May and onward through the summer.
In Florida, blueberry loadings from Central and North Florida are now in good volume and hauls are available into June….Meanwhile, Georgia “blues” are right behind Florida. Good Georgia blueberry shipments should be available by next week….Back to Florida, rates for hauling watermelons out of the southern part of the state have jumped 20 percent in recent days. Vegetable volume from Florida continues to be heavy.
In South Texas, vegetables continue to be loaded, combined with a lot of veggies and tropical fruit from Mexico crossing the border into Texas. Cantaloupe shipments have started from the Rio Grande Valley. There’s still no overall damage reports on storm-hit watermelons in South Texas. There will be fewer loads, but who knows how much less? Loadings are light, but will be increasing and continue into mid-June.
In California, the Imperial Valley is quieter with the seasonal end of vegetable shipments. However, cantaloupe shipments will start in mid-May….About 300 truckload equivalents of carrots are being shipped weekly from the Bakersfield area.
Southern California continues to ship good volumes of avocados, strawberries and citrus…..The Santa Maria district, along with the Salinas Valley will become more active with produce shipments in the weeks ahead.
In Washington state, there are steady loadings of apples and pears from the Yakima and Wenatchee valleys.
Washington state apples and pears – grossing about $4200 to Chicago.
Southern California produce – grossing about $5000 to Chicago.
South Texas produce – about $4800 to New York City.
South Florida veggies – about $3600 to New York City.
I’ve recently returned from a produce show in Dallas and although freight rates on California produce loads have recently been steady, or in some cases declining a little, most people I’ve talked to (shippers, wholesalers, truck brokers, trucking companies) only see this as the calm before the storm. In coming weeks as volume builds throughout many California shipping districts, they are expecting rates to show significant increases. $9000 produce rates from the West Coast to the East Coast are expected to be common. Some would not be surprised if rates hit $10,000.
Here’s the outlook for loading opportunities on the huge volume of summer fruit that annually is shipped from California.
Strawberries – Mostly available right now out of Southern California and to a lesser degree from Santa Maria. Yet California ships 88 percent of the nation’s strawberries and it really cranks up in a few weeks when Watsonville starts shipping in volume.
Blueberries – These berries are now being loaded out of the Arvin district and as the season progresses will move northward in the San Joaquin Valley to Delano and Kingsburg. California expects to ship 15 to 20 million pounds of “blues” this year.
Melons – watermelon and honeydew from the Bakersfield area kicks off in mid-June, followed by cantaloupes around July 1st.
Stone Fruit – It was in 2008 around 60-million 25-pound cartons of peaches, plums and nectarines were shipped, but last year loadings were down to an estimated 47 million cartons. Don’t expect anymore this year. California has been shipping too much stone fruit that doesn’t taste very good, and are replacing some orchards with improved varieties….Cherries are a different story. Californians know how to grow good tasting cherries! This year the state should be loading decent volumes of cherries by the third week of May. Shipments should be in the 8 to 10-million box range; 12-million boxes in the unlikely event perfect weather continues.
Table Grapes – The Coachella Valley is currently shipping grapes and will continue through June. Shipments will then transition to the Arvin/Bakersfield district, where the huge volume will begin and gradually moves northward through the San Joaquin Valley. California may have record shipments this year, and top 100-million boxes for the first time.
Apples – California isn’t really known for apple shipments as it is dwarfed by Washington state. However, it does have 16,000 acres of orchards and available loads should be similar to last year. Shipments of the gala variety begins in late July and runs through mid-September. This variety will be followed by granny smiths in August and and fujis in September and cripps pink in October.
Oranges – The 75-million-plus cartons of navels are pretty much history for this year, while smaller loadings of valencias are now being shipped. About 28 million, 40-pound boxes of valencias should be shipped.
My home state of Oklahoma just opened the first of eight new weigh stations April 27th and was very proud of the fact it nailed its first overweight big rig within an hour of its opening. State officials would only say the truck was significantly over the 80,000-pound gross vehicle weight limit at the new $11 million port of entry, located just south of the Kansas-Oklahoma state line on I-35. Oklahoma officials also are very excited that the next new weigh station will be opening soon on I-40, in Western Oklahoma just east of the Texas state line. This weigh station will “only” cost $8.7 million.
The Oklahoma Department of Transportation and other Okie bureaucrats are very excited and can’t wait to get the all eight new port of entries in operation and start racking in the dough. Afterall, it’s going to take a lot of fines to cover those millions and millions of dollars to build these weigh stations. These new facilities also will be equipped with a lot high tech equipment ranging from weigh-in-motion that weighs big rigs at highway speeds (at least on I-35); license plate readers; automatic checks of truck registration and safety rating, among many other features.
Oklahoma officials cite the need for replacing 50-year-old existing weigh stations to protect the state’s investment in highways, bridges and city streets, as well as making the roads safer for motorists.
These are fine, good and honorable goals. Let’s just make sure these are the true goals, and that they are not tempted to start issuing fines, and putting truckers out-of-service for less than honorable reasons. We all know, safety inspectors can be very picky and cause a lot of problems for drivers, even for minor infractions. I’m not saying this will happen, but when there’s bills to be paid to help justify these new ports of entry, one never knows.
Going from East to West with U.S. produce shipping areas, in Florida I’m not sure why rates are little, if any more to Boston than to New York City. Afterall, you’ve got another 200 miles to Boston from Florida. Of course, Boston traditionally offers fewer return loads. So if you can gross $3600 to New York, surely a load of Florida vegetables, melons etc. should be getting close to $4000.
Southern Georgia shipments are cranking up with peppers, squash, greens and cabbage, while Southeastern Georgia Vidalia onions are in full shipping mode. Overall, expect Vidalia onion loadings to be off 20 to 30 percent this season due to disease.
In South Texas, sweet onion shipments are two to three weeks ahead of schedule and should be pretty much finished around May 10th. The Lower Rio Grande Valley also is loading items ranging from citrus, to beets, greens, cabbage, etc.
There are steady shipments of Idaho potatoes — grossing about $4200 to Atlanta.
The same holds for storage onions from the Idaho and Malhuer County, Oregon region — grossing about $5400 to Baltimore.
South Texas produce – about $2800 to Los Angeles.
Vidalia, GA onions – about $2600 to Chicago.
By Larry Oscar
When hard economic times hit a nation it always seems to bring out the best and also the worst in people. Anyone with a good job or business should stand
back and give thanks from time to time for the successes and also the lessons of life’s failures. For without success, there is no sense of accomplishment and without failure there is no sense of humility. For each of us to be a more complete human being we need to take ourselves to task from time to time.
Personal responsibility for our own lives is paramount. I never cease to be amazed at how some people drop out of school, steal, get involved with drugs, slovenly go through life thinking society owes them something, and make constant demands for free handouts. And others, who suffer real tragedy in their lives, always work hard to overcome their problems and manage a smile. Recently we have seen greedy union members demand more benefits for themselves in demonstrations and rallies throughout the nation. They yell, chant, and thrust signs in the air demanding higher wages and more social benefits. I suspect more will follow. They never promise an increase in their productivity to actually earn an increase in their wages. They don’t want to stand on their own two feet and be held accountable for their own skills and quality of their own work. Instead they want some big union boss to make threats on companies who are trying to just survive in a stressful economy.
Our government educational system also reeks with these type of people. The school systems have become a haven for slothful and greedy adults who do not want to be held accountable for their performance, and yet they demand that public school systems provide them with a guaranteed lifetime handout. Their attitude is “who cares about the children, I want a guaranteed lifetime job with a fat pension.” They have no concern for their customers. In fact, I wager that very few of them even know who their customer is. They are pathetic human beings.
Then there are those who demonstrate, by their actions, the content of their good character. Recently I was in need of canvas winch covers for a boat. Nothing fancy, or very expensive, just a good quality product at a fair price would suffice. I found some on an internet auction and ordered them. The person who made them did a superb job, and also insisted that if the quality did not meet what I was looking for that my money would be refunded. I was so impressed with the service and quality that I ordered more. A few months later I inquired if there was a website where I could order them from, and if other canvas products were available. This was her reply: “I can sew anything for a boat, I owned and operated a shop for 12 years called “Canvas and Sail.” I even built sails and repaired them. I built the big glass enclosures on yachts. I did it all. Then one fall shattered it all and I have spent nine years, and several surgeries, getting strong enough to do it again. I can’t do big, heavy jobs anymore, but stuff like wheel covers, sail repair, and the little stuff I can do. I’m grateful for every job I get, and if it isn’t right I’ll make it again. I’m still real disabled but love sailing, and sewing is how I take care of myself. My husband died and I am alone, and we all have to eat, so I am so grateful for every job I get. Thank you so much, I will always do my best for you at whatever you need made for your boat. I’ve made thousands of awnings too, and did all the coast guard stuff on their boats for years until I fell on a boat. Thanks a bunch.”
This is a true American. She had obviously been successful in her life and business. Then tragedy struck. She is still recovering from it, and she is a determined soul. She’s not only fighting to pay her own way in life, but she’s thankful for what she has, and she takes great personal pride in her work. She’s not asking for a handout. She is taking personal responsibility for herself and earning her way through life. Just when you think all Americans have turned into a bunch of whining beggars, along comes a true American who restores your faith in what this nation was originally founded on, guts and determination to succeed. We were founded by people who fought life’s tragedies and hardships and won. We should help those who are willing to help themselves, and we should kick the others in their large oversized buttocks! Oh, by the way, if your looking for some high quality canvas products for your boat, check out…
http://motors.shop.ebay.com/lindamay2006/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=
By OOIDA
(Grain Valley, Mo., April 25, 2012) – Despite being previously struck down by a federal court, a costly and unnecessary mandate has been included in the U.S. Senate’s highway surface transportation funding legislation.
U.S. truckers see it as the last thing a struggling trucking industry needs right now and want to see it removed from the bill.
A provision in S.1813, also known as MAP-21, requires all long-haul trucks to be outfitted with electronic on-board recorders, or EOBRs, capable of real-time tracking for monitoring of trucks and drivers. The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), the largest trade organization representing professional truckers and small-business truckers, contends EOBRs are an unproven technology, providing no cost benefit or highway safety improvement.
“It’s exorbitantly expensive while providing no safety benefit whatsoever,” says Todd Spencer, OOIDA executive vice president. “This is being done under the guise of compliance with federal hours-of-service regulations, but it is actually a way for large motor carrier companies to squeeze more ‘productivity’ out of drivers and increase costs for the small trucking companies they compete with,” said Spencer.
A regulatory version of an EOBR mandate was struck down by a federal Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit because the FMCSA failed to deal with the harassment of drivers. Noted in that ruling was the fact that no research has shown how such a mandate would do anything to improve highway safety.
“EOBRs are no more reliable than paper log books for tracking hours of service,” said Spencer. “The device only tracks when the wheels are moving, not taking into consideration the colossal waiting times spent by truck drivers at shipping docks. Plus, we hear every day from truckers whose companies use the devices to harass truckers into driving more hours.”
The current EOBR rulemaking has been estimated by the Obama administration to cost the industry $2 billion if enacted. In response to a request made by U.S. House Speaker John Boehner to disclose all rulemakings in excess of $1 billion, President Obama listed the current EOBR rulemaking as one of the seven most expensive regulations pursued by the administration.
“It is more than twice the cost of hours-of-service regulations, which by the way are still in flux and not truly finalized. Yet the FMCSA presses on, seeking additional authority from Congress for yet another mandate,” said Spencer.
OOIDA sent a letter to the Senate conferees April 25th on behalf of its members expressing all of these concerns.
There’s some really sweet, tasty late season grapes from Chile in your produce department now. Enjoy them while they last, because the season for these imports are just about over…..Never fear though, grapes from Mexico should start arriving in your supermarkets within the next couple of weeks. There also will be the first domestic grapes arriving, from the Coachella Valley near Palm Springs, CA. Many retailers I’ve spoken with actually prefer the Mexican grapes over the Coachella grapes. Keep in mind that a lot of the Mexican grapes are actually owned, or financially backed by grape growers from the U.S. — especially from California.
I’ve been a little disappointed overall with California strawberries thus far. Some have been better than others, but overall, the quality could be better…..Of course, I have to qualify this since I shop at a small town Wal-Mart, with absolutely not competition. Wal-Mart’s produce departments have really went down hill in the past several years.
You should be finding those wonderful sweet onions in your stores by now — especially those from Vidalia, GA. Of course, Texas grows some pretty good sweet onions as well.
Whether talking the desert areas of the Imperial or Coachella Valleys, or Southern California to Ventura County, Bakersfield, and on to Santa Maria and Salinas, produce is being shipped. Granted, not all the areas are in full harvest, but shipping areas are abundant. It will only get better for produce haulers in the weeks ahead as demand for refrigerated equipment increases and rates climb accordingly.
In the desert, you’ll find bell peppers, beans and sweet corn in both the Imperial Valley and the Coachella Valley. Cantaloupe loadings begin in a couple of weeks or so. Also, the Coachella Valley ships the first domestic grapes in the U.S. each year. Coachella grape loadings will begin a week to 10 days earlier than normal this year — around the first week of May. Loadings should continue through June, with about 9 million cartons forecast.
California cherry shipments begin from the central and south areas of the San Joaquin Valley the first half of May, but expect shipments to be lighter than normal. Heaviest cherry loading opportunities come with the later bing cherry variety from the Stockton-Linden-Lodi area. Overall, unless Mother Nature does a whack job on these perishable beauties, California should ship 8.5 to 9 million boxes of cherries, the most in a decade!
California desert vegetables – grossing about $7200 to New York City.
If you haul cantaloupes out of the Rocky Ford area of Colorado during the summer, better look for something else this year. Thanks to the 2011 outbreak of listeria at Jensen Farms that killed 32 people and sickened others in 28 states, melon shipments from this area will be much less this year. Acreage from this district in southeastern Colorado will amount to only 500 acres, compared to about 2,000 acres of cantaloupe each year before the disasterous outbreak.
The Colorado cantaloupe industry has taken steps to improve their food safety programs, including having safety audits by the Colorado Department of Agriculture. Still, it’s too late, the damage has been done. The whole cantaloupe industry in the United States suffered because of the lax safety standards of a company, not to mention lives lost and ruined. As consumers become more confident, cantaloupe shipments will return to Rocky Ford as they had in the past, and other shipping areas around the country will recover as well.
It’s kind of like having one careless driver acting like a an idiot in an 18 wheeler. The whole trucking industry’s image suffers — deserved or not.
Produce shipments from the Huron District in the San Joaquin Valley, as well as loads out of the Salinas Valley have returned to normal following disruptions due to rain. The seasonal transition of the lettuce harvest and loadings out of Huron are quickly shifting from Huron to Salinas. Volume is building from the Salinas Valley, not only with lettuce, but other vegetables, and should become heavy in May.
Here’s an update on San Joaquin Valley stone fruit shipments that get underway soon. Both peaches and nectarines usally start by late April, with plums coming on in May. Expect peach and nectarine loading opportunities this season to be off 20 percent due to hail. There was a 20-mile-long swath of the storm cutting through from Southwest of Kingsburg going east to south of Dinuba and Reedly. Shippers with stone fruit orchards you may load with in this area were adversely affected the most.
Looking ahead to the Bakersfield, Kern County shipping area, potato shipping will get underway the second week of May with red, yellow and russet spuds. This will be followed by watermelon loads becoming available in early June, while table grape shipments get started in early July…..Meanwhile steady shipments of carrots are continuing from this area.
Salinas Valley vegetables – grossing about $7000 to New York City.
Supplies of refrigerated a equipment are tightening some as we get further into spring. How big a shortage of trucks for hauling produce will be this year will start to reveal itself in the weeks ahead and should be really interesting by late May and onward through the summer.
In Florida, blueberry loadings from Central and North Florida are now in good volume and hauls are available into June….Meanwhile, Georgia “blues” are right behind Florida. Good Georgia blueberry shipments should be available by next week….Back to Florida, rates for hauling watermelons out of the southern part of the state have jumped 20 percent in recent days. Vegetable volume from Florida continues to be heavy.
In South Texas, vegetables continue to be loaded, combined with a lot of veggies and tropical fruit from Mexico crossing the border into Texas. Cantaloupe shipments have started from the Rio Grande Valley. There’s still no overall damage reports on storm-hit watermelons in South Texas. There will be fewer loads, but who knows how much less? Loadings are light, but will be increasing and continue into mid-June.
In California, the Imperial Valley is quieter with the seasonal end of vegetable shipments. However, cantaloupe shipments will start in mid-May….About 300 truckload equivalents of carrots are being shipped weekly from the Bakersfield area.
Southern California continues to ship good volumes of avocados, strawberries and citrus…..The Santa Maria district, along with the Salinas Valley will become more active with produce shipments in the weeks ahead.
In Washington state, there are steady loadings of apples and pears from the Yakima and Wenatchee valleys.
Washington state apples and pears – grossing about $4200 to Chicago.
Southern California produce – grossing about $5000 to Chicago.
South Texas produce – about $4800 to New York City.
South Florida veggies – about $3600 to New York City.