Archive For The “News” Category
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Goal is Reduce Potential Disputes with Produce
January 17, 2012 – The North American Produce Transportation Working Group (NAPTWG), representing produce transportation stakeholders from 
associations and industry groups across North America, announced today the availability of the new North American Produce Transportation Guidelines. The document integrates multiple existing transportation guidelines into one best practices document which can be used throughout North America to ensure the ongoing vitality of the carrier sector. These best practice guidelines were agreed to by various stakeholders in the produce supply chain and were reviewed and endorsed by the Blue Book and the Dispute Resolution Corporation (DRC) to ensure compliance with industry trading guidelines for North America. The NAPTWG aims to provide necessary guidance for seamless product movement and to ensure that the produce industry continues to have sufficient access to carriers to meet the needs of the produce industry in North America.
“The new guidelines represent an incredible volume of work by industry associations and produce organizations involved in the transport of fresh produce,” noted David Dever, President and CEO of Sun World International and United’s NAPTWG Chairman. “We all know how crucial ensuring the vitality of our carrier industry is to the long term viability of the North American produce industry and this is one tool to support that.”
Best practices are generally-accepted, informally-standardized techniques, methods or processes that have proven themselves over time to accomplish given tasks. By following proper processes, checks and testing, a desired outcome can be delivered more effectively with fewer problems and unforeseen complications. In addition, a “best” practice can evolve to become better as improvements are discovered. The NAPTWG compilation of best practice guidelines is intended to be an evolving document to guide efficiency in produce transportation.
“Transportation carriers are facing increasing costs and complexities today,” said David Owen, President of National Association of Small Trucking Companies (NASTC). “If we don’t all play our part in assisting carriers and making produce a desirable industry to do business in, we could face shortages of carriers in the future. The guidelines should be used by all to ensure that doesn’t happen.”
The document is available free of charge to the produce industry and carriers at www.naptwg.org.
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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, NATWG works to provide best practice resources to those involved in the fresh produce supply chain.
Food Lion stores over the years developed a pretty bad reputation for the way it treated truckers delivering produce and other items to its distribution 
centers. Some say this situation has improved over the past five years or so.
Whatever the case, Food Lion’s parent company Delhaize America is planning to shutter 126 stores and slash 49,000 jobs, plus discontinue its Bloom banner, which some stores operated under, according to the Food Lion website. Delhaize has 1,600 stores operating in 16 states, mostly in the Southeastern part of the country. Among its operations are Bottom Dollar Food, Food Lion, Harveys, Hannaford Supermarkets, Reid’s and Sweetbay.
Closings of the stores should take place within the next month.
Union workers at the Hunts Point Terminal Wholsale Market in Bronx, NY have not went on strike in 25 years, but they are threatening to if a labor agreement is not met with market representatives. If you are on your way to the nation’s largest wholesale produce receiving facility just be aware the laborers are saying they’ll strike at 12:01 a.m. on January 17th.
Negotiations are continuing and you can bet Hunts Point wholesalers will do what it takes to stay open even if the strike occurs. How smoothly trucks would move in and out of the market is something to keep an eye on.
Two Texas produce firms have recently filed for Chapter 11 bankrupty and if they stay in business with this protection from creditors, produce haulers should be extra cautious doing business with them.
The produce companies in San Antonio, TX are in question are Delta Produce LP and Superior Tomato and Avocado. The firms, which are believed to be related, are facing compliants from the Perishable Agriculture Commodities (PACA). As of December 29th around $600,000 in PACA claims have been filed by other produce firms, which are owed monies.
Delta has filed a $100 million lawsuit against H.E. Butt Co. seeking damages against the retail chain alleging coercion by a buyer, according to a filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Western District of Texas. H.E. Butt has denied the claims stating Delta failed to keep up with a changing marketplace.
The PACA comes under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and requires U.S. produce companies buying or selling fresh produce in commercial quanities to be licensed by USDA. This helps to provide protection to the produce industry when dealings between produce companies cannot be resolved between themselves.
Trucking is not afforded these same protections and often have no recourse when monies are owed, except through the courts. This can be costly, not to mention the inconvenience of fighting a company for money who may be located in a different state thousands of miles away. Also, PACA protected produce companies get their monies first, if any is left in a bankruptcy.
Bill Martin of haulproduce.com for decades has been calling for trucker protections under the PACA.
Why was haulproduce.com created? Simply put, there is a need. That need is good, accurate, reliable and timely information. This knowledge can be used 
by those who are transportating fresh fruits and vegetable to improve their bottom line, making business operations more profitable.
From pre-cooling melons, to proper loading procedures, maintaining refrigeration temperatures and humidity levels, to timely deliveries of perishable items, hauling produce is a different ballgame.
The harvesting and shipping of fresh produce items in a particular area can range from three to four weeks from year to year, depending on the weather. Likewise, the start and completion of shipments of those same items can vary each year.
Additionally, volume from this same district area can change greatly from one year to the next. Then there is always the concern over quality of the product. It is important that the party to whom you are delivering has no surprises relating to quality, size, color, and taste of the product.
Having this information at your finger tips reduces your chances of having the load rejected, or facing a deduction in your freight rate.
It is important to know where loads will be available from season to season. Loadings of lettuce, for example, come from different shipping areas, depending upon the time of the year. Shifts from one shipping area to another may have gaps in some instances, but may overlap in others. These shipping areas also may vary significant in volume from year to year and even during the season itself.
In addition to all these factors, rates for hauling produce can fluctuate greatly, even from the same area to the same destination depending upon everything from truck availability to produce volume and the perishable nature of the product.
In essence, to be a good produce trucker, it requires being a cut above most of types of other haulers. And being among the best, depends on knowing the business and using the information available. Thus, haulproduce.com is here to help.
If these Texas produce firms remain in business, produce haulers should be extra cautious.
Two produce companies in San Antonio, TX are making news with multiple sources regarding possible bankruptcy fillings. The operations in question are Delta Produce LP and Superior Tomato and Avocado. The firms, which are believed to be related, are facing compliants from the Perishable Agriculture Commodities (PACA). As of December 29th around $600,000 in PACA claims have been filed by other produce firms, which are owed monies.
The PACA comes under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and requires U.S. produce companies buying or selling fresh produce in commercial quanities to be licensed by USDA. This helps to provide protection to the produce industry when dealings between produce companies cannot be resolved between themselves.
Trucking is not afforded these same protections and often have no recourse when monies are owed, except through the courts. This can be costly, not to mention the inconvenience of fighting a company for money who may be located in a different state thousands of miles away. Also, PACA protected produce companies get their monies first, if any is left in a bankruptcy.
Bill Martin of haulproduce.com for decades has been calling for trucker protections under the PACA.
Consumers in general are eating more healthy foods, including fresh fruits and vegetable. This is a factor in the USA restaurant industry looking forward to a good year in 2013.
Restaurant industry sales are predicted to topexceed $660 billion in 2013. This would be a 3.8 percent increase from 2012, says the annual Restaurant Industry Forecast from the Washington, D.C.-based National Restaurant Association.
This would mark the fourth consecutive year of industry sales increases.
The study sees Americans eating more healthfully when they eat out in 2013.
Over 70 percent of people polled claim they are attempting to eat better at restaurants compared to two years ago. About three-quarters of consumers state healthful menu options are an important factor when choosing a restaurant.
Restaurants are making changes to meet the demand for more healthy meals. Around 86 percent of those polled stated eating establishment are offering a wider variety now than two years ago.
2013 is expected to be the 14th straight year in which restaurant industry employment outpaces overall USA employment, the forecast reads.
Restaurants are forecast to employ 13.1 million people in 2013, making the industry the nation’s second-largest private-sector employer.
In 2012, restaurants added jobs at a rate of three percent more than double the overall USA employment rate of 1.4 percent. In 2013, restaurants expected to add jobs at a 2.4 percent rate, .9 percent more than the expected overall rate.
Fresh fruit and veggies shipments from South Texas continues to increase, although for a number of years now it is primarily due to more loads crossing the border from Mexico. Of the total loads by truck leaving the Rio Grande Valley, about 60% of that produce was grown south of the border. While Nogales, AZ for years has been known as the principal import point for Mexican produce into the U.S., last year for the first time imports in the Lower Rio Grande Valley exceeded those of Nogales. This trend is expected to continue when a year from now a new highway in Mexico is expected to be completed. The 143-mile long Autopista Durango-Maztlan is the east-west highway being built. More West Mexican produce shipments that normally go through Nogales, will instead be channeled through South Texas, because it will reduce freight rates for loads destined to the Eastern United States…Currrently your best South Texas loading opportunities are with cabbage, just south of San Antonio, plus grapefruit further south in the valley.
There’s good news for truckers, your loading opportunities, plus on the home front when comes to buying fresh produce at your local supermarket.
For the second consecutive month, a leading recent indicator in retail food inflation shows prices for fresh fruits and veggies fell in November. However, prices ares still on track to post among the largest increases over the past decade, according to government data.
Supermarket prices for fresh fruits and vegetables fell in November. Average retail fresh fruit and vegetable prices fell 1.2% last month from October levels, according to updated Consumer Price Index data released Dec. 16 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. October prices were down 2.7% from September.
Compared with a year ago, fresh fruit and vegetable prices were up 3.8% for the first 11 months of 2011 and posted average year-over-year increases of 4.8%, placing the category on a pace for the biggest annual increase since a 5.2% jump in 2008.
Fresh produce prices declinedl in recent months amid increased production of apples, pears and other crops. Prices for many items surged earlier this year after cold weather that cut production of tomatoes, oranges and other crops. More recently, apple supplies have risen over 2010 levels in part because of a strong crop from Michigan.
Rising volume with produce items, combined with lower prices should help spur consumer buying, resulting in more demand at shipping point. This should translate into increase loading opportunities for haulers of fresh fruits and vegetables. Of course, there’s many other factors, depending upon the economy, unemployment, etc.