Archive For The “News” Category
Jerry Cravens has been trucking since 1991 and as an owner operator since 2002. After all these years, he is fueling at an Atlanta truckstop before picking
up his first load of produce.
Leased to A.L. Smith Trucking of Versailles, OH, Jerry is picking up a load of tomatoes from a Del Monte warehouse in Atlanta for delivery to another Del Monte facility in Winset, NC. At the Winset warehouse, he’ll load more fresh produce and head to Del Monte’s operation in Columbus, OH.
The closest Jerry has come to hauling produce was about 20 years ago with a load of cheese. Since then his focus has been with dry freight.
As Jerry was preparing to pull out of the truck stop and head to the Del Monte warehouse, this writer forgot to get his contact information. It would be very interesting to see if his first produce load would be his last. Or just maybe he found a new challenge after all these years that he really likes!
Jerry fully realizes hauling perishables “is definately more challenging than pulling a dry van.” He decided to haul produce on the recommendation of a friend who had “made good money” over the past year leasing with A.L. Smith.
Jerry says his career as an owner operator has succeeded by being careful whom he hauls for and taking the most profitable loads.
Over the years he has considered obtaining his own operating authority, but he has known too many truckers who have tried it and failed.
Prior to trucking Jerry graduated from high school, then enlisted in the U.S. Navy for four years, before transferring to the U.S. Army for another six years.
Between the experience in the military and his time hauling dry freight, he seems confident he is prepared to enter the world of produce trucking. Jerry is aware of the “weird hours” and delays often associated with loading and unloading fresh fruits and vegetables, plus plenty of other issues at the docks. He has been briefed on important factors such as maintaining the correct temperature for his load of tomatoes he’ll transport in a 53-foot Utility trailer equipped with a Carrier refrigeration unit. The trailer is owned by the company to whom he is leased.
As Jerry was finishing fueling his truck, he was asked if he had any advice for anyone looking to enter trucking and wanted their own truck. He advised they first learn the industry as a company driver.
As for buying a tractor, he advised against purchasing a new one. He cited the high monthly payments as a primary negative with a new truck, along with the higher down payment required. Jerry also cited other factors such as lease-purchase plans “where you will end up paying too much. Buy a new truck and it is hard to come up with those $1800 per month truck payments.”
Jerry practices what he preaches. He owns a 2001 Kenworth T-600 with a 250-inch wheel base and a 13 speed transmission. His truck payments are $500 per month.
“If you own your own truck you always have a way home,” he surmises. “I’ve seen too many of these company drivers fired while on the road and have had to find their own way home.”
If there’s something I’d be willing to bet the farm on – if I had one – it would 
be that the Hunts Point Terminal Wholesale Market – at least in my lifetime, will never leave the South Bronx for New Jersey, or anywhere else.
This once again comes to mind as New York City and the governing body of the world’s largest wholesale produce market – the Hunts Point Terminal Produce Market Cooperative, have agreed to a 90-day extension for exclusive negotiations to continue trying to reach a long-term lease. In essence, this gives the involved parties through May to negotiate.
While New York City certainly doesn’t want Hunts Point to move its facilities to New Jersey, which keeps offering it tax incentives to do so, it’s not going to happen. New York City loves the taxes it receives from the $2 billion in annual revenues Hunts Point generates. There are 47 vendors, primarily wholesale receivers and distributors, on Hunts Point, and they love the location. It is situated in the middle of America’s largest concentrated population. The last thing they want is a wholesale market in Jersey, and having to distribute fresh fruits and veggies to customers in New York City, which would require crossing the gridlocked George Washington Bridge, Lincoln Tunnel and countless other thoroughfares going over and under the giant Hudson River.
While it might be a long haul produce trucker’s dream delivering product in New Jersey rather than the South Bronx, it isn’t going to happen. The only reason the Hunt Point folks even pretend to want to move to Jersey is as a negotiation tool to leverage a better deal with New York City, who actually owns and leases Hunts Point.
The food stamp program, part of the Department of Agriculture, is
pleased to be distributing the greatest amount of food stamps ever.
Meanwhile, the Park Service, also part of the USDA, asks us to “Please Do Not Feed the Animals” because the animals may grow dependent and not learn to take care of themselves.
According to the Energy Information Administration, which is part of the Department of Energy, U.S. diesel fuel prices are continuing upward.
Truckers are now paying on average $4.051 cents per gallon for diesel fuel, which is 24 cents more per gallon than at the start of the New Year. This is the highest fuel has been since the spring of 2011.
California, to no one’s surprise, has the highest diesel fuel prices, averaging $4.41 per gallon. This is higher than the average for the West Coast, riding at $4.326 per gallon. The average price on the East Coast is $4.134 per gallon. The mid-west has the “cheapest” diesel fuel, averaging $3.914 per gallon.
At this time a year ago, the national average price per gallon for diesel was 33.5 cents per gallon less.
By MindShare Strategies, Inc.
for RWI Transportation LLC
Wilder, Ky., February 21, 2012- Truck continues to be the primary mode of 
transportation for temperature-controlled transportation and with today’s capacity crunch this remains a challenge for shippers. According to a just released report by RWI Transportation, an asset-based logistics company providing temperature-controlled transportation for perishable commodities, the top three challenges include capacity, controlling and monitoring the temperature of products during shipping, and cost containment.
The RWI Transportation’s 2012 Temperature-Controlled Transportation Report delves into the challenges and the strategies shippers use to overcome these challenges. The study is based on research from North American shippers of temperature-controlled products. Highlights include:
* Strategies to improving available capacity include finding new carriers as reported by 27 percent of respondents, better planning (22 percent), long-term contracts or commitments to carriers (13 percent) and using asset-based carriers/3PLs (6 percent).
* Shipment rejections due to inappropriate temperature variances are reported by 65 percent of respondents. Variances with too warm temperatures accounts for 42 percent and too cool 23 percent.
* A full 90 percent of respondents indicated that temperature tolerances impact their organizations with 38 indicating a significant to extreme impact.
“This report uncovers challenges specific to shippers of products requiring temperature-controlled environments that we are seeing today as we work closely with our customers,” said Richard Bauer, executive vice president and general manager of RWI Transportation. “Current solutions to these challenges come from understanding and using the data available on shipments including lanes, location, temperature and more. As technology improves our access to better data increases and brings the industry closer to overcoming these challenges.”
Managing in excess of 100,000 shipments annually, RWI handles temperature-controlled and dry freight, and also has specialized expertise in handling fresh produce and other perishable food commodities. RWI is an affiliate of the Castellini Group of Companies, which combines to form one of the largest distributors of fresh produce in the United States. For further information on RWI, visit www.RWItrans.com.
For a full copy of the RWI Transportation’s 2012 Temperature-Controlled Transportation Report visit http://rwitrans.com/resources/whitepapers.asp.
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About RWI Transportation
RWI Transportation LLC is an asset-based logistics company that provides regional and national truckload, LTL, expedited, and refrigerated warehousing services for refrigerated and dry products. RWI is an affiliate of the Castellini Group of Companies, which forms one of the largest distributors of fresh fruits and vegetables in the United States. For more information, visit www.rwitrans.com.
There are still efforts in Congress to increase the gross weight limits for trucks.
One piece of legislation is the Safe and Efficient Transportation Act (H.R. 763). This bill would allow increasing the weight limit from the current 80,000 pounds to 97,000 pounds.
Proponets of heavier trucks claim it will reduce greenhouse gases, ease what they see as an upcoming driver shortage when the economy improves, and make freight transportation more efficient. In other words, fewer trucks can haul more freight and reduce highway congestion. Heavier truck supporters also say new hours of service regulations going into effect in 2013 will create increased demand for more equipment and drivers.
What proponets of heavier trucks usually don’t admit is they want to load more freight on the truck, but pay truckers the same old freight rate. It doesn’t matter to them that heavier trucks also increase risk of more highway damage, not to mention the greater wear and tear on tractors and trailers, decreased miles per gallon and longer distances required for a big rig to stop resulting in more crashes.
Some things never seemed to change in trucking and this is one of those issues that has been out there for decades.
There’s been the ongoing political fight involving the trucking aspects of the 
North American Free Trade Agreement since the Clinton administration. Several months ago the Obama Administration implemented a pilot program whereby Mexican trucking companies could begin operations in the United States.
Apparently about 20 trucking companies from south of the border are awaiting approval from the U.S. to begin operations here. Produce shippers are salavating at the prospects of access to more transportation and cheaper rates to move fruits and vegetables to markets across the U.S. and Canada. Meanwhile, many in the trucking industry are fighting made over the prospects of unsafe Mexican trucks undercutting freight rates.
Potatoes are the fourth largest food crop grown in the world behind rice, corn and wheat. Most people think of Idaho when they consider potatoes — and 
rightfully so when it comes to russets. However, the Red River Valley, located on the borders of North Dakota and Minnesota are the leaders in red potato shipments.
If you haul produce, I wouldn’t suggest trying to get to the frozen tundra this time of the year. The folks are great, but the weather can be brutel. Besides, there’s no shortage of equipment to move the red potatoes. However, a friend of mine this week was in Fargo. You never know where the next load is going to take you sometimes.
The Red River Valley will be shipping red potatoes into the spring. Product is holding up well in storages. Most shipments are ususally to midwest and eastern markets.
Grand Forks, ND to Chicago – potatoes are grossing about $1800.
Even when the recent deadline for a Teamsters strike at the Hunts Point Terminal Wholesale passed and the local’s workers kept right on working, I wasn’t a bit surprised. Not only has there not been a work stoppage over the past 25 years, I’m familiar enough with the wholesalers, and particularly their leaders, to know if it’s at all possible, a strike would be avoided. It was. A new contract was reached.
Nothing is more critical to the tenants on Hunts Point than to keep those 53-foot reefer units rolling into the terminal.
No trucks, means the wholesalers lose customers (retail supermarkets, foodservice, etc.) who decades ago decided to buy directly from produce shippers whenever they could. These customers, as is the case with terminal markets across the United States, often buy 70, 80, 90 percent of their fresh fruits and vegetables direct – primarily because they see cutting out the middlemen as saving money. Of course, wholesalers make good arguments such as a produce market offers wide selections of product, ranges in quality, color, taste, size and even price advantages.
My first visit to Hunts Point was about 25 years ago and I estimate I’ve been back there 50 times since. During this period I always made it a point to visit with as many truckers as possible who were delivering fresh produce on the South Bronx market. I also got to know many of the Hunts Point wholesalers on a first name basis.
Through the years Hunts Point developed a horrible reputation in the trucking industry. Complaints ranged form kicked loads, phoney claims to get reductions in freight rates, to delays in unloading, many times as an excuse for wholesalers to take advantage of free refrigerated warehousing at the expense of the driver. Then there were issues ranging from lack of restroom facilities to restaurant accomodations.
Over the years in my talks with drivers and wholesalers, many of these issues have been addressed. Now when talking with truckers about Hunts Points, there stil complaints, but I also hear a lot more good things than I used to. Driver shortages, refusals to return to deliver to wholesalers who “dump” on you, tend to change things. If these issues do not improve, then trucker is at fault for returning to take another “beating.”
When you get down to it, Hunts Point in some ways is no different than other wholesale terminal markets. Some companies are simply better than others whether talking about their dealings with transportation, or dealing with their suppliers and customers.
One consistency I’ve noticed over the years, is the people who are leaders on Hunts Point such as Matthew D’Arrigo (D’Arrigo Bros. Co. of New York) and Myra Gordon, both of the Hunts Point Terminal Produce Cooperative Market, are first class individuals. I could also say the same about a number of other people at Hunts Point.
When you have people of intergrity in leadership positions, I knew if there was any way a union conflict could be resolved, it would be accomplished. It’s also another reason why some truckers have fewers complaints about Hunts Point.
Driver turnover rates among the nation’s fleets has gone up and continues to be high. It has increased with small trucking companies too, but remains well below the big carriers.
The American Trucking Associations reports turnover rate for large fleets to be at 89% for the third quarter of 2011. That is up 10% from the second quarter rate of 79%. The driver turnover rate has risen 50 percentage points since the start of 2010.
Meanwhile, small truck load fleets had a 57% driver turnover rate, up 10 points since the third quarter of 2008.