Archive For The “News” Category
By Total Quality Logistics
NASHVILLE—Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bill Hagerty along with Total Quality Logistics (TQL) officials announced the transportation services company will begin operations in Davidson County. The company will open a sales office to meet the needs of its expanding client-base in the Basin Alley Building located at 105 Broadway in downtown Nashville. This expansion represents an investment of $1 million and the creation of 105 new jobs.
With the opening of its Nashville office, TQL operates 22 offices in 11 states across the country.
“I want to thank Total Quality Logistics for its investment in Tennessee and creating these new jobs in Davidson County,” Haslam said. “Today’s investment by Total Quality Logistics shows confidence in our business environment, and the decision to expand here reinforces our goal of becoming the No. 1 state in the Southeast for high quality jobs.”
TQL chose to locate in Middle Tennessee because it gives the company access to outstanding professional talent, a key component to TQL’s ability to serve its customers and increase its market share of the domestic transportation market.
“Tennessee continues to prove itself as a state offering the best business climate in the country, and companies looking to further growth are taking notice,” Hagerty said. “I’m pleased Total Quality Logistics recognizes Tennesseans’ reputation as a friendly and dedicated workforce. I want to welcome Total Quality Logistics to Tennessee and look forward to their continued presence and investment.”
“We are pleased to expand our operations in a state that shares our focus on job creation and economic growth,” TQL Executive Vice President Kerry Byrne said. “We offer careers for entry-level employees that allow them to progress quickly and take on leadership roles. More than 90 percent of the current sales leadership within our organization has been promoted from within.”
“This investment by Total Quality Logistics is a testament to Nashville’s business-friendly environment and our deep and talented workforce in the transportation and logistics industry,” Nashville Mayor Karl Dean said. “I thank the company for choosing to expand in Nashville and create more jobs, which further demonstrates the strength of economic development in our city.”
“We are excited that Total Quality Logistics has chosen to relocate to the Nashville region,” said Jeff Hite, vice president of recruitment for the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. “Because of Nashville’s competitive business climate, educated workforce and high quality of life, we continue to see an influx of strong economic activity in the Nashville area.”
TQL is one of the fastest growing providers of transportation logistics services in North America, connecting shippers who have product that needs to be moved with truckload carriers who have the capacity to move it. The company works with more than 10,000 customers and 50,000 carriers across North America to move more than 800,000 loads a year. TQL moves approximately 3,500 different types of commodities including fresh fruits and vegetables, packaged foods and beverages, meat and poultry, machinery and equipment.
TQL was featured in the November issue of Inc. magazine as one of the top job creators in the country. The publisher of G.I. Jobs magazine also has named TQL one of this country’s Military Friendly Employers.
People can apply for jobs immediately and should start the process online at www.tqljobs.com. Prior experience in the logistics industry is not necessary as new hires with the company participate in a 26-week paid training program. TQL offers its salespeople the opportunity to earn unlimited commissions in addition to their base compensation once they have successfully completed training.
About Total Quality Logistics
Total Quality Logistics is one of the top freight brokerage companies in the nation, with more than $1.6 billion in annual sales. The company, founded in 1997, is privately held and headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, with 22 locations across the nation. TQL was ranked among the nation’s 150 Top Workplaces in 2013 in one of the largest-ever surveys of U.S. companies, with more than 1 million employees participating nationwide. TQL employs more than 2,300 nationwide.
South American grapes and blueberries could reach some U.S. markets quicker under a new pilot program bringing fruit to south Florida ports.
It could mean produce truckers loading more fruit in Florida instead of say, a port like Philadelphia.
Global ocean carrier Hamburg Süd’s delivered the first shipment of imported Peruvian grapes to Port Everglades in Greater Fort Lauderdale under the pilot program on Nov. 29, according to a news release from the port.
“With our state-of-the-art refrigerated cargo containers and our fixed-day of the week liner service between Peru and Port Everglades, we are uniquely positioned to cater to this exciting new business,” Juergen Pump, senior vice president, Hamburg Süd North America, said in the release. “Port Everglades is the first U.S. port of call for our South American West Coast/United States service and we are looking forward to serving the South Florida fresh produce import community,”
Before the pilot program was established, imported South American fruit had to be imported through northern ports such as Philadelphia and then trucked to Southern U.S. market because of concerns over hitchhiker pests, according to the release.
The pilot program, which started Oct. 1, approved a limited number of “cold-treatment” shipments — grapes and blueberries from Peru and Uruguay — to enter the Florida market directly in containers
Numerous shipments of grapes and blueberries from Peru and Uruguay are expected in the next few months, according to the release.
One of the big advantages of the south Florida port is transit time, according to the release. A container traveling from Peru would reach Port Everglades in only 15 days, compared with the 21-day journey to Philadelphia, according to the release.
How green is green when it comes to enviromental issues and dedication to those issues? Is the size of that so-called carbon foot print what it appears? While it can be a mixed bag, what is certain is that truckers are being affected by changes and polices.
For example, one of the biggest changes coming sooner than we may think is noted by Doug Stoiber, vice president of L&M Transportation Services, based in Raliegh, NC.
The LMTS executive states, “Within the next couple of years we’re going to see a whole lot more trucks switching from diesel fuel to liquid natural gas and compressed natural gas. That is going to have an impact on the environment and sustainability and fuel costs.”
Currently the fuel delivery industry in playing catch up, he notes, in developing the infrastructure to service natural gas trucks. Stoiber points out truck manufacturers are lining up to purchase the the new 12 liter Cummins natural gas engine.
Jimmy DeMatteis, president of Des Moines Truck in Norwalk, IA agrees.
“I’m seeing more natural gas trucks, It’s supposed to burn cleaner than diesel engines that are five years and older,” he says, “and are certainly burning cleaner than the seven years before that.”
But there’s another side to the “green” issue that often doesn’t receive the attention.
As the president of Cool Runnings LLC in Kenosha, WI, Fred Plosky makes an observation about the produce industry and how it sometimes approaches transportation from an envirnomental stand point.
“…their (produce) buying intiative isn’t nessarily in agreement with their corporate initiative,” Plotsky observes.
For example, he had a couple of customers that requires Cool Runnings to be a part of Smartway, a voluntary environmental program for trucking.
“While they are saying you need to be a part of Smartway and you need to watch your carbon foot print, they don’t run their business that way,” Plotsky relates.
A Cool Runnings hired truck has had to run an extra 100 miles out of route to pick up nine packages of fruit, because the buyer was wanting to buy the fruit direct (from the shipper) and save money.
“The buyer won’t consolidate this to two pick ups in the same town and then buy those nine boxes off the street (from a wholesaler) in Chicago for an extra $3 a box, as opposed to routing the truck and paying $255 for going up (to the shed) , $55 for the pick up and paying $310 more for those nine boxes. What does that do for your carbon foot print?” Plotsky asks.
Kenny Lund, vice president of the Allen Lund Co. in LaCanada, CA says another anti-environmental policy relates to each state having a different fuel blend. He says this is “killing the refineries” and there needs to be a national fuel blend when the conversion is made twice a year for summer and winter weather.
“There is something like 28 different fuel blends across the U.S.,” Lund states. “You have got refineries serving multiple states. They have to shut down production and reformulate it. That just drives up the cost for everyone.”
Lund recalls a trucker who said it best when it comes to the rules and regulations affecting transportation.
“You have got a lot of people making regulations for the trucks that have never been inside a truck.”
Produce haulers truck a lot of imported fresh fruit from various U.S ports to destinations across America and into Canada. The largest volume of imported fruit this time of year is from Chile, arriving at such U.S. ports as Philadelphia; Wilmington, NC; and Long Beach, CA.
However, at the Port of San Antonio, Chile, dockworkers have been on strike for the past week. It’s gotten so tense that police special forces have intervened.
If some sort of solution to the strike isn’t resolved soon, your loading opportunities at U.S. ports will be significantly affected – in a negative way. Chilean fruit arrivals reach a peak between now and stretching into March.
Information is somewhat sketcky, but demonstrations are persisting and shipments to the U.S. and elsewhere have been hindered by the strikes. Union representatives claim that the government has not honored a recent agreement, due to the stubbornness of a port connected company, which the unions says is unwilling to negotiate.
The second week of the strike would jeopardize the export of an estimated 1.5 million boxes of fresh fruit, worth an estimated $40 million. Even more losses are expected if the dispute remains unresolved.
It is estimated that in February there would be 6 million-plus cases per week of fruit being loaded on boats at the port for export. One union spokesman said of the situation, “this is war.”
Produce crops and shipments dodged another potentially winter killing weather system in early January that produced record lows throughout the Midwest and East. Following close scrunty of fresh produce items being grown in both Florida and Texas, it looks like things are okay, with items coming out of it unscathed.
Strawberries in the Plant City, FL area, just west of Tampa had mostly trouble with too warm weather this winter until the early January winter blast. This time of year, the relatively small area of Florida is the biggest volume shipper of strawberries.
Floridas tomatoes in winter also provide a signiticant amount of loading opportunties. The state also has light volume with a number of other mixed vegetables, plus cirus, all of which escapted unharmed.
Texas
It was a similar story in the Lone Star State. In South Texas, some citrus-growing areas dropped to near 32 degress F., but growers really don’t worry about freezing until it’s 28 degrees F. or lower and then the temperatures need to stay there for awhile.
The cold weather is reported to actually help the Texas citrus crop, since after a mild 2012-13 winter, Asian citrus psyllids and other pests don’t thrive as much when it’s cold. As a result Texas citrus shipments should remain steady and on course.
A Centers for Disease Control report rates fruit and vegetable consumption by state and offers others measuring sticks for consumer access to healthy food. California leads the U.S. in several categories.
Known as the State Indicator Report on Fruits and Vegetables, the report can be used to show how states support consumption of fruits and vegetables and help identify opportunities for improvement in fruit and vegetable access.
The CDC report is the second of its type, with the first report issued by the CDC in 2009.
The 2013 report reveals that adults in the U.S. consume fruit about 1.1 times per day and vegetables about 1.6 times per day.
The daily median intake for fruits (times per day) was highest in California, the District of Columbia, Connecticut and New Hampshire, while the states for lowest fruit consumption were Mississippi and Oklahoma.
California also led the U.S. in daily vegetable consumption while Iowa, Mississippi, North Dakota and South Dakota shared the low mark.
Only about 70 percent of all census tracts in the U.S. have at least one store that offers a variety of affordable fruits and vegetables. The greatest access to stores that offer fruits and vegetables were California (82 percent), New York (79 percent), Florida (79 percent), the District of Columbia (78 percent) and Oregon (77 percent). On the other end of the spectrum, Vermont has the lowest percentage of census tracts (44 peracent) with a store that offers fruits and vegetables, followed by South Dakota (46 percent), Alaska (49 percent) and North Dakota (50 percent).
The U.S. average for farmers’s markets per 100,000 population is 2.5, according to the report. Vermont, Wyoming, Iowa, and New Hampshire all have more than seven farmers markets per 100,000 state residents, while Texas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Nevada, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Utah all reported less than two farmers markets per 100,000 population.
On the last day of the Bloomberg administration, city officials bought some time in their long-running effort to keep the Hunts Points Terminal Produce Market from leaving the Bronx for New Jersey or elsewhere.
New York City’s Economic Development Corporation announced on Tuesday that, after years of sometimes contentious negotiations, the market’s lease had been renewed for seven years. The agreement keeps the wholesale market and its 3,000 jobs in the South Bronx until June 2021. The market, which has operated since 1967, has an option to renew the lease for 10 years after that.
The agreement is a step toward developing a long-term plan to overhaul the market, which occupies more than 100 acres. The city agreed to reduce the maximum annual rent the market pays to $4 million from $4.5 million. In return, the market agreed to reduce the amount it can deduct from that rent for repairs it makes to its infrastructure to $1.5 million from $2.25 million annually.
Hunts Point is the world’s largest wholesale produce market. Thousands of refrigerated 18 wheelers from all over North America deliver fresh fruits and vegetables to the compound each week. The product is then distributed mostly on a regional basis, the nation’s most populated area.
By The New York Times
If you are under 35 years of age, you are twice as likely to buy more organic over the next year than older counterparts, according to new IGD research.
Some 18 per cent of this age group want to use specialist stores, like butchers and greengrocers, more in the future compared to only nine per cent of the over-35 age group.
Shoppers aged under 35 are also more likely than their older counterparts to shop ethically and cook from scratch.
And almost 30 per cent of under 35s think they will be better off in a year’s time.
Joanne Denney-Finch, chief executive of IGD, said these trends provide opportunities for retailers and food manufacturers to target younger shoppers with marketing and new products that will chime with their more optimistic outlook.
She said: “As well as wanting to do the right thing, younger people are more interested in cooking from scratch, using leftovers to waste less, and spending more on food and drink to make a nice meal if they have spare money at the end of the month.
“It’s encouraging that younger people are so optimistic about the future and also more likely to want to make a difference to the world. Shoppers under 35 are more interested in considering a retailer’s values and approach to sourcing products.”
It’s New Year’s Day and pardon me if I reflect a bit on the past year.
As for this website, HaulProduce.com, I can’t thank each of you enough for visting the website. Apparently you are finding it useful in your business. That was my whole purpose in launcing this site nearly two years ago.
I receive calls on a regular basis, and in many cases when you are looking for produce loads. Some of you call under the impression I am either a carrier, logistics company or a truck broker – none of which I pretend to be. Haul Produce.com, much like the radio reports I did for nearly 20 years (known at the Produce Truckers Network) provided produce reports on loading opportunities, quality of product you’d be hauling and a general idea of what kind of a gross freight rate you should receive.
Our number of visits to the website continue to increase. It has a relatively new feature, where you can subscribe for free, which continues to have more people in the trucking industry signing up. With the free subscription, you receive an e-mail consisting of a paragraph relating to the most recent post. If that bit of information interests you, you can click on the e-mail link and read to the whole story.
Again, thank you for your support. If you know of a fellow trucker or someone in the trucking industry who may benefit from the HaulProduce.com website, please let them know about us.
God bless you, your family and business in the New Year. — Bill and Vivian Martin
Hunts Point Wholesale Produce Market is the largest produce terminal in the world, moving 3 billion pounds of fruits and vegetables from 55 countries and 49 states through its stalls each year. The 113-acre complex has more than 1 million-square-feet of shop and storage space, houses 42 merchants, employs 10,000 people, and generates $2.4 billion in sales annually.
Hunts Point, located in the South Bronx, serves New York City and the tri-state area (New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut), bringing fresh produce to an ethnically diverse population of more than 23 million. The terminal facility sells to retailers, secondary wholesalers, restaurants, and other foodservice outfits.
For over 10 years Hunts Point has faced a challenge due to operating in a 1960s-era facility that’s both in need of repair and has been outgrown.
Storage is limited, and the layout was built for smaller trucks than today’s 53-foot trailers. Infrastructure (including electrical needs) is inadequate, and the cold chain is a challenge. Over the past several years, there’s been questions, if rebuilt, is there enough room on the existing campus to accommodate a new market that will last the next 50-plus years.
PRODUCE FREIGHT RATES
A combination of fewer trucks due to the economy reducing the number of owner-operators and carriers, plus fuel costs led to what wholesalers claim were record freight rates last summer.
“Freight has been very rough,” says Hunts Point wholesaler Jim Hunt. “Up until July Fourth, freight out of California to New York was astronomical, in the $8,500 to $9,000 range. Also, trucks were hard to come by, and this is something we will have to deal with going forward.”
“It gets broken down as a function of the delivered cost,” explains Hunt. Hypothetically, if freight is $8,000 or $9,000 for a 20-pallet truck, the f.o.b. price is $5 per box. And if the freight is another $5, this puts the merchant in at $10. “If you’re trying to make 15 percent, you have to gun for $12 and fall short at $11,” he said.
“If freight were to continue to go up the way it has, it would be unsustainable for the produce industry,” concedes wholesaler Matthew D’Arrigo. “But the beauty of our industry is that we don’t have government regulations setting freight rates; we have the laws of supply and demand.