Archive For The “Trucking Reports” Category
The San Francisco Wholesale Produce Market has shortened its name to The SF Market. It also is rebranding with a new look to highlight the market’s role in the Bay Area’s food economy. The market’s 31 produce vendors include wholesalers, distributors and online grocery delivery companies, according to a news release.
The rebranding effort comes as the market has signed a 60-year lease with the City of San Francisco and recognition as a historic asset by San Francisco’s Legacy Business Registry. The SF Market name and logo, developed by Trinity Brand Group, will be on the market’s website, on market signage and on merchant trucks, according to the release.
“With its innovative track record of helping food businesses grow at every stage and size, The SF Market has played an instrumental role in how the Bay Area has evolved into a leading food destination,” Matthew Youngblood, co-founder of Trinity Brand Group, said in the release.
“We have been thrilled to have the expertise of Trinity Brand Group behind us as we took this important step to rebrand our organization,” Larry Brucia, president of the board of directors, said in the release. “Through our collaboration with Trinity and the roll-out of our new look, our goal is to increase awareness of the enormous positive impact of The SF Market and to connect with food purveyors and the community in a bigger, better and more meaningful way than ever before.”
The SF Market is currently working on a $96 million reinvestment project to upgrade and expand the facility in Bayview-Hunters Point, including an 80,000-square-foot building, according to the release.
Stone Fruit Shipments
California stone fruit shipments have just got underway, with a later and lighter start.
Giumarra Cos. office in Reedley, CA, started harvesting white and yellow peaches and yellow nectarines this past week. The company plans to begin its white nectarines and apricots new week, followed by plums a few days later.
Simonian Fruit Co. of Fowler, CA kicks off its stone fruit season about May 20th, about a week later than normal.
Imported Mexican grapes will still be good, but a little less than an year ago. Meanwhile Texas red potato shipments have started.
Green seedless grapes in Mexican have taken biggest hit for the new 2018 season, dropping 30 percent from a total of 4.4 million cases in 2017 to 3.1 million cases this year.
Early green seedless are expected to be down 28 percent to 2.6 million cases. Early green seedless production in 2017 was 3.6 million cases. Red seedless varieties this year will be off 23 percent from 10.1 million cases a year ago. The 2018 estimate is for 7.8 million boxes of red seedless table grapes.
Red seeded, black and other varieties are each expected to be off 15 percent this spring. Red seeded export production this year is estimated to be 584,000 cases. Black grape volume is anticipated to be 1.1 million boxes. Other varieties should total 713,000 boxes.
Mexican grape shipments a year busted all records hitting 16 million cases.
Peak shipments for green seedless would be the third week of May through June.. Peak shipments for red seedless will be similar.
Some good news for produce truckers hauling grapes out of Nogales is there has been a 50 percent increase in inspectors at the Nogales crossing. This is expected to reduce delays at the border.
Mexican vegetables and watermelon crossing at Nogales – grossing about $6800 to New York City.
Texas Red Potato Shipments
by MountainKing Potatoes
HOUSTON, TX – MountainKing Potatoes, one of the world’s largest growers of potato varieties, has started the harvest of its Texas new crop of red potatoes.
Grown in the Rio Grande Valley, south central Texas and the western section of the state’s panhandle, MountainKing’s Texas Reds are harvested fresh daily, pre-cooled and packed to order in specially-marked 5-pound bags.
“Our Texas Reds have been a consistent seller…,” says John Pope, vice president of sales and marketing for MountainKing Potatoes. “All signs point to a very solid harvest this year.”
Pope explains the firm and waxy texture of the Texas Reds help them maintain their shape when boiled. Plus, their high moisture content creates a more flavorful potato salad while their thinner skins make for a brighter, more attractive presentation. The product also is suitable for grilling and mashing.
Besides their great look and taste, MountainKing’s Texas Red Potatoes are packed with 35 percent of the recommended daily intake of Vitamin C and 16 percent of dietary fiber, a strong selling point for health-conscious shoppers.
Based in Houston, MountainKing grows, packs, markets and distributes fresh potatoes to grocers across the United States. Currently, about one million U.S. households enjoy MountainKing products every week.
Mexican produce crossing the border at Pharr, Tx – grossing about $3800 to Chicago.
Spring weather conditions have gradually improved California’s Salinas Valley produce shipments, which had been hampered by rain and cold weather.
Still, some shippers such as Tanimura & Antle Inc. of Salinas see volume being lighter than normal on some items in late May and early June because of planting delays.
At the same time growing conditions and ultimately shipments are expected to better than in 2017, which had even worse weather conditions.
Salinas Valley vegetable crop acreage increased slightly from 286,637 acres in 2015 to 290,987 acres in 2016, the latest year for which statistics are available from the Monterey County agricultural commissioner’s office.
There has been a significant decline in artichoke acreage in Monterey County, from 7,242 acres in 2006 to 4,050 in 2016.
Weather has been a problem for impacted overall artichoke production for a number of years. This has resulted in the nation’s largest artichoke grower Ocean Mist Farms of, Castroville, CA
deciding to diversify artichoke growing locations to include areas such as the Coachella Valley, rather than concentrate all of its volume in Monterey County.
D’Arrigo Bros. Co. of California, based in Salinas, completed its desert lettuce shipments the last week of March after finishing up other vegetable crops in mid-March. Most Salinas vegetable shipments got underway in early March, but a spring rain descended on the area the last few days of the month, bringing most of the harvests to a halt, and resulting in quality issues. The quality of Salinas vegetables has improved with the weather.
Another Salinas produce company, Coastline Family Farms, started its Salinas vegetable season April 9th following a few days of rains. Early season leaf lettuce and romaine hearts showed some signs of blister and peel because of an early spring frost, but apparently has experienced a significant improvement in quality since.
Lucky Strike Farms of Burlingame, CA., expects to have a steady vegetable deal this season.
Salinas Valley vegetables – grossing about $8300 to New York City.
Asparagus loadings out of Michigan have started. Meanwhile, here’s an update on how many potatoes remain to be shipped for the 2017-18 shipping season.
Michigan asparagus shipments are just getting underway and will continue into late June with good volumes coming in time for the Memorial weekend, May 26 – 28.
One of the larger Michigan asparagus companies that grows, packs and ships is Todd Greiner Farms Packing LLC of Hart, MI. The company recently completed a 20,000-square-foot addition to its packinghouse, which is the second expansion in the last year. This includes two new controlled atmosphere/cold storage rooms and two new shipping and receiving docks. Greiner Farms also ships other vegetables and watermelons.
Vidalia Onion Shipments
Vidalia certified sweet onions are grown in 20 southeastern Georgia counties by 80 farmers and available in the spring and summer months. However, the majority of the onions are located in only two counties. In 2017, Georgia shippers had almost 230 million pounds of Vidalia onions. Similar volume is seen this season, and shipments got underway April 20th.
U.S. Potato Shipments
U.S. potatoes remaining in storages to be shipped as of April 1st were up 2 percent from year-ago. The USDA reports the 13 major potato shipping states held 134 million cwt. of potatoes in storage. Potatoes in storage accounted for 33 percent of the fall storage states’ 2017 production, 1 percent more than last year.
Idaho potatoes remaining to be shipped totaled 50 million cwt. off 4 pecent from 52 million cwt. from last year. As a percent of production, Idaho potato stocks represented 38 percent of the state’s 2017 production, up 1 percent from a year ago.
In Washington, the state with the second-highest amount of potatoes remaining in storage, the USDA reported 30 million cwt. of potatoes. That was up 3.4 percent from 29 million cwt. the same time a year ago. Washington’s stocks accounted for 30 percent of 2017 potato shipments, up from 27 percent in 2016.
Idaho potatoes from Twin Falls area to New York City – grossing about $5300.
Washington potatoes from the Columbia Basin – grossing about $4500 to Chicago.
Here is a look at imports involving Mexican limes, Chilean citrus and Gooseberries from Ecuador.
Lime Shipments
By last March Mexico has provided 97 percent of the U.S. total lime shipments, with only light volume reported from Colombia. Lime supplies are finally improving after being in short supply due to weather factors. Pro*Act LLC of Monterey CA imports Mexican limes and sees retail prices dropping as supplies improve.
Chilean Citrus
Nearly 48 tons of Chilean clementines from Valparaiso departed for the West Coast of the U.S. April 2nd kicking off the new season.
The season was launched a week earlier than the season of 2017. Observers expect volume to increase quickly as more orchards begin harvesting, according to a news release from the Chilean Fresh Fruit Association in San Carols, CA.
The Chilean Citrus Committee expects a strong season with increased clementine volume, according to the release.
“We’re expecting consistently high-quality fruit this year. We had very favorable temperatures this autumn, with warm days and cooler nights, and last year’s strong rainfall has also provided plenty of water for irrigation,” Juan Enrique Ortuzar, committee president, said in the release.
Ecuadorian Gooseberries
The USDA has approved fresh Ecuadorian cape gooseberries being imported by U.S. under a new proposal from the ag department.
Comments on the proposal will be accepted until June 18, according to the USDA.
Imports of the fruit — also called ground cherries, goldenberry and physalis — will be allowed from Ecuador under what the USDA calls a systems approach.
U.S. import levels for fresh cape gooseberry fruit are not known, according to the USDA, because the fruit is combined in U.S. trade statistics with black, white, and red currants.
In 2015, the U.S. imported approximately 78.7 metric tons of gooseberries and currants valued at about $476,000.
The U.S. does not produce fresh cape gooseberry fruit commercially, according to the USDA
Patience is a virtue if you are wanting to get through the bureaucratic red tape and import South American lemons, at least those from Argentina. But the long wait is over as shipments are arriving at U.S. ports to be trucked across North America.
The first U.S. bound lemons in 17 years from Argentina’s Tucumán citrus growing region arrive this week after departing that South American country April 18th.
Argentina had been seeking to have exports of lemons to the U.S. allowed since 2001, when a U.S. District Court in California overturned a USDA rule from a year earlier allowing lemon imports from Argentina.
Argentina’s provinces of Tucumán, Salta and Jujuy will export between 15,000 and 20,000 metric tons of lemons to the U.S. during the 2018 season. Most of Argentina’s lemon shipments are expected in June and July.
Argentina’s lemon exports in 2017 totaled 241,000 metric tons, with the top destinations listed as Spain, Russia, Italy, the Netherlands, Greece and Canada.
Argentina Lemons
Argentia’s lemons will be arriving in the U.S. through Citromax, Carlstadt, N.J.
The company has over 13,000 acres of lemons in Tucuman, Argentina. .
“We are very proud to say that Citromax is the only American-owned lemon producer that is packing and selling lemons into the United States retail market,” Vivian Glueck, president of the Citromax Group, said in a news release. “We are thrilled that the recent lifting of trade restrictions has opened up the U.S. market, and we are moving ahead with bringing the highest-quality lemon fruit to American consumers.”
A February court decision in favor of the USDA’s approval of the import of Argentine lemons allows the fruit into the U.S. for the first time in 17 years.
The lemons will carry Citromax brands, and are being imported by Seald Sweet, The Oppenheimer Group and Vision Import Group; those companies will also market the lemons.
California desert shipments for fresh grapes and vegetables from the Coachella Valley are gearing up.
California’s Coachella Valley grape shipments should get underway in very light volume around May 10th, with loadings to be down only slightly from last season.
Table grapes are grown from 7,000-acres in the area located just east of Palm Springs. Volume should be about 4 to 4.5 million 18-pound cartons, down from about 4.8 million cartons a year ago. While some shipping operation finish earlier than others, some such as Richard Bagdasarian Inc. of Mecca, CA continue through the middle of July.
Early variety grapes in the Coachella Valley will have lighter volume due to inadequate chill hours. However, the midseason or later grapes in the Coachella Valley should have more normal volumes, which should start occurring by the end of May, just in time for shipments for Memorial Day weekend, May 26-28.
From Memorial Day into June Coachella grapes shipments should be at a peak. Coachella grape volume is miniscule compared to grape shipments from the San Joaquin Valley that will get underway by late June or early July as the Coachella season is winding down.
Vegetable Shipments
Coachella Valley vegetable shipments are expected to be average this season with items such as peppers, watermelons and sweet corn, with good volume during May and June.
Prime Time International, which is headquartered in Coachella, is expecting good shipments of colored red, yellow and orange peppers as well as watermelons and sweet corn during May and June. The Coachella Valley shipping season typically lasts about eight weeks and typically ends when the desert temperatures get too hot. Coachella watermelon shipments are expected to be heavier than normal this season..
Coachella Valley
The Coachella Valley is a desert valley in Southern California extending approximately 45 miles in Riverside County southeast from the San Bernardino MountainsS to the northern shore of the Salton Sea. It is approximately 15 miles wide along most of its length, bounded on the west by the San Jacinto Mountains and the Santa Rosa Mountains on the north and east by the Little San Bernardino Mountains. The San Andres Fault crosses the valley from the Chocolate Mountains in the southeast corner and along the centerline of the Little San Bernardinos. The fault is easily visible along its northern length as a strip of greenery against an otherwise bare mountain.
36287528 – rush trucking. speeding blue semi truck on the american highway. trucking concept.
California cherry shipments are just getting underway in light volume with early season varieties, with the total volume expected to be less this season.
Peak loadings for the early varieties should occur from May 8th to May 20th and good volume coming from the later districts in late May and early June.
While most observers agree total California cherry shipments will be down from last season’s record 9.6 million cartons, just how much of a decline seems open to debate.
Most observers are pegging shipments will fall between 4.5 million and 7 million cartons this season. Cherry shipper King Fresh Produce of Dinuba, CA has been quoted as expecting total loads to be around 6 and 7 million cartons. Some others see it being more like 4.5 million to 5 million cartons.
Average to above average cherry shipments are expected from the later producing cherry districts, but this won’t make up for lighter volume starting the season, according to Chinchiolo Stemilt Growers in Stockton, CA.
The five-year average for California cherry shipments is 6.7 million cartons.
Morada Produce of Linden, CA believes the lighter early season loadings may reduce shipments to about 6.5 million cartons this year. Bing cherry shipments should start about May 22nd, with the peak bing volume coming the last week of May and the first eight days of June.
Cherry shipments should be a little lighter from Frenso south although this isn’t quite set in stone yet.
The Patterson district, which is just a little southwest of Stockton, seems to have a strong crop. Cherry shipments in the coastal district of Hollister and Gilroy should finish about June 15.
Northwest cherry volume could start around June 8th.
Huron head lettuce in the San Joaquin Valley is in final weeks of season – grossing abut $8000 to New York City, $5800 to Chicago.
We are well into springtime and that means melon shipments are underway, or soon will be from shipping areas across the country. Decent volume is expected by at least some areas by the middle of May. Here is a brief look at the plans of a few melon shippers located in different area of the U.S.
West
For example Five Crowns Marketing of Brawley, CA plans to start shipping watermelons from the Imperial Valley about May 1st just as imported melons are wanning. It also will be shipping mini watermelons later in the season from Arizona.
Legend Produce Dos Palos, CA, located in the Merced area of the San Joaquin Valley, should start shipping within the next week as it transitions from importing melons from Guatemala and Honduras.
Likewise Pacific Trellis Fruit/Dulcinea Farms of Los Angeles will begin cantaloupe shipments, as well as yellow personal watermelons from the Yuma, AZ area around the middle of May.
Del Mar Packing of Westley, CA. located about 15 miles southwest of Modesto, starts its melon season in early July.
Texas
Dixondale Farms of Carrizo Springs, TX, located about 115 miles Southwest of San Antonio, is the state’s largest grower and shippers of cantaloupes, with loadings to start in May.
Eastern
Jackson Farming Co. is headquartered in Autryville, NC, but ships from several areas on the East Coast plans It will kick off its seeded and seedless watermelon season with shipments out of Bradenton, FL the second week of May, and expects to have good volume leading up to Memorial Day. Then the company will be shifting production to Leslie, GA., with peak volume plans for loadings leading up for the Fourth of July with seedless watermelons. Jackson’s final stop of the season is the Autryville operation that ships watermelons, cantaloupes and honeydew melons through Labor Day.
The company plans to increase its North Carolina on seedless watermelon volume close 20 percent this season.
As produce rates remain higher than normal for this time of the year and equipment and drivers are in short supply, here is a round up of several active shipping areas in the Western half of the United States.
At Nogales, watermelons crossing the border from Mexico are providing the heaviest volume as many winter vegetable items are nearing the end of a season. Over 800 truck loads of Mexican melons are being shipped weekly and volume is still increasing. Mexican tomato shipments are exceeding 600 truck loads a week, with a similar amount of cucumbers. A big crop of Mexican table grapes will be crossing the border in good volume within a couple of weeks….Lettuce from the Yuma area is quickly coming to a seasonal end.
Mexican produce through Nogales – grossing about $3600 to Chicago.
California produce shipments
Salina Valley vegetables lead by broccoli, cauliflower and lettuce are in light, but increasing volume. It will help test the ability of the produce trucking industry to supply the equipment and drivers necessary when the Salinas Valley hits full stride in May, along with fruits and vegetables from the San Joaquin Valley. There’s not numbers yet, but the valley’s stone fruit volume is expected to be down significantly from weather factors. Kern County carrots are averaging over 400 truck loads per week. Many other items will be available for loading in the coming weeks.
Northwest Produce Shipments
As usual Washington apples are the volume leader averaging over 3000 truck load equivalents per week…..Washington’s Columbia Basin and the adjacent Oregon Umatilla Basin are shipping nearly 700 truck loads of onions weekly and about 375 truck loads of potatoes….Meanwhile Idaho is shipping in excess of 1900 truck load equivalents of potatoes weekly.
Yakima Valley apples – grossing about $4000 to Dallas.
Texas Produce Shipments
Mexican avocados and watermelons continue to cross the border at Pharr in heavy volume. Mexican tropical fruits such as mangoes are increasing, as are Mexican tomatoes. Mexican sweet onions continue being imported, but its season will be winding down and sweet onions grown in the Lower Rio Grande Valley are increasing.
Mexican produce through South Texas – grossing about $5800 to New York City.