Archive For The “Trucking Reports” Category
The National Association of Berry Exporters (Aneberries) has kicked off the berry season in Mexico, projecting a total production volume of 900,000 tons of berries.
Currently, in Mexico, there is a total area of 170,500 acres of berry production, mainly in the states of Michoacán, Jalisco, Guanajuato, Baja California, and Sinaloa.
In addition, the sector will generate more than half a million jobs during the season to bring berries to consumers’ tables.
The industry is expecting to export 460,000 tons of berries, which marks an 11% decrease from the volume exported last year. The value of the exported fruit to markets in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia will total approximately $3.8 billion, which keeps Mexico as the main exporter of this product.
Aneberries reports the blueberry is the only berry that participates in a truly global market, the other berries compete mainly in the North American market.
(Note: Since this press release the state of California has issued a state of emergency that covers Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties in Southern California due to torrential rains and flooding. Strawberries could be a primary crop adversely affected by this weather. An update will be provided on how crops and shipments are affected.)
By Bobalu Berry Farms
Oxnard, CA — As the company heads into the 2024 strawberry season, partners at Bobalu Berry Farms are reviewing how the crop looks today compared to the very unsettled beginning at this same time last year.
Thankfully, January has been much more forgiving in 2024 than 2023 with the volume coming out of Oxnard, currently double of what it was at this time in 2023. The plants are healthy, staying somewhat dry, and providing excellent fruit, even though we are still technically in Winter.
The Oxnard region has received its share of rain already, but with dry days in-between and nice breezes, the plants are thriving. Additionally, Santa Maria is showing some signs that the spring season there will begin very soon.
“While this is all very good news for our strawberries, the challenge we are facing now is the inclement weather in our receiving markets”, says Anthony Gallino, VP of Sales. “When you can’t get trucks to the east coast due to blizzard conditions and flooding rain, that affects all of us”, he adds.
Consumers typically begin filling up their shopping carts at this time of year with fresh strawberries from California to help them get that taste of Spring during the winter across the country. However, when they can’t get to the store due to weather conditions, demand takes a hit, so the Bobalu team is working to keep the pipeline full, and is diverting some fruit to markets that are not impacted by weather at this time.
“The fruit from our ranches here in Oxnard and from our partner fields in Mexico is excellent right now and we are ramping up for the Valentine’s Day demand”, says Gallino. The company expects to have promotable volume to supply their partners with high quality fruit and stems for the upcoming holiday.
Once Bobalu Berry Farms gets into February, the sales team will be focused on promoting the Spring crop from Oxnard, Mexico and Santa Maria as they prepare for an early Easter this year.
By Ocean Mist Farms
CASTROVILLE, CA – Ocean Mist Farms, the leading grower and marketer of fresh artichokes in North America, announced their winter artichoke season in Coachella is well under way peaking with harvests of their Gold Standard (green globe) artichokes, as well as first picks of highly sought-after purple artichokes. Peak season on artichokes means promotable volumes to retailers through February.
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The first Frost-Kissed® crop of the season was also being harvested a couple weeks ago out of their southern growing region in Coachella, Calif. According to Director of Sales, Joe Angelo, “These exclusive artichokes were not available last year as they only occur after frosts, much to the disappointment of artichoke aficionados who know that the darkened skin on the outer leaves is strictly cosmetic, doesn’t affect the eatability or quality of the artichoke and, in fact, the frost seems to seal in a more intense and distinctive nutty flavor.” Continuing, “A possible second wave of Frost-Kissed artichokes may be available next month, weather contingent.”
About Ocean Mist Farms
Ocean Mist Farms, a fourth-generation family-owned business in Castroville, Calif., the largest grower of fresh artichokes in North America.
The company’s full line of 30+ fresh vegetable commodities include their Gold Standard green and purple artichokes, as well as a valued-added and Season & Steam product line.
Cold winter weather combined with a number of tropica storms in October, including two hurricanes, has severely limited shipments of vegetables from Mexico’s main winter production areas.
Divine Flavor of Nogales, AZ reports there is no solution for the vegetables coming out of Sinaloa for the entire season, describing it as one of the most challenging on record.
Most of the Culican vegetables in the state of Sinaloa are in short supply. Much of the woes result from the hurricane Otis last October, where there was a lot of significant damage, excessive rain, humidity, and disease.
Bernardi & Associates, also in Nogales, notes weather issues have caused a lack of supply with no letup in sight, adversely affecting nearly all commodities.
Bernardi reports short tomato supplies, when under normal condtions would mean peak volume by now. The supply problems extend beyond Sinaloa and include many of the production areas in Sonora and Baja California as well.
GR Fresh of McAllen, TX. reports volumes of all vegetables are down considerably.
The first ship of 2024 with Chilean fruit arrived at the Port of Los Angeles th week of January 22nd, carrying more than 5,300 pallets of table grapes and stone fruit.
According to a press release issued by the port, it is the only one in the U.S. West Coast that receives specialized refrigerated cargo vessels carrying palletized fruit from Chile.
Departing from the Port of Coquimbo on January 3, the Ivar Reefer was operated by Cool Carriers, a company specialized in directly transporting fruit and other fresh produce. The modern refrigeration and ventilation systems, as well as the thermal insulation of its vessels, allow for optimal conditions and minimal risk of damage to the perishable cargo.
The vessel is the first of dozens that will arrive at the Port of Los Angeles, during the winter season, from January to early April.
“We have become the primary stop for Chilean fruit imports on the West Coast that are distributed as far north as Canada and as far east as Texas,” Port of Los Angeles executive director Gene Seroka noted in the release, adding that “being able to efficiently accommodate and process a variety of cargo for our customers – such as today’s fresh breakbulk shipment – remains an important priority for our Port.”
In 2021, the Port of Los Angeles invested nearly $1 million to upgrade its breakbulk building at Berths 54-55, a marine terminal operated by SSA Marine.
The building serves as the Port’s main staging area for pallets of Chilean products, which SSA Marine then quickly distributes using the Port’s extensive network of refrigerated truck services and cold storage facilities.
For more than 25 years, Chilean growers have relied on this specialized port terminal to deliver their fresh produce to North American consumer markets.
U.S. retailers are focused on table grape imports and fruit in cold storage as the domestic harvest period has come to an end and shipments are now coming in from Peru, Chile, Brazil, and South Africa, according to a report by San Lucar.
Peru
With Piura already over, Ica is now in full export season. From early April up to late December, 41,014,134 total 18 pound boxes have been shipped being the most exported White seedless (46%; 19,055,266 boxes), Red Seedless (25%; 10,215,686 boxes), Red Globe (17%; 7,066,089 boxes) and Black seedless (5%; 1,863,095 boxes).
Of these exports, 56% are destined for the U.S., 10% to Latin America, 24% to Europe, and 9% to Asian markets.
Even though Peru is expected to export fewer grapes this season year-on-year, until week 51 of 2023, the country had exported 23% more than the same period last year.
Brazil
The export period out of Brazil lasted until week 52, the last of 2023. The South American country exported a total of 5,473 containers. Of the total volume, 3,923 of the containers were shipped into the EU and 1,453 into the U.S.A.
Chile
Reports out of Chile show that shipments to the U.S. started four weeks earlier than last season and unit week 51 of 2023, it had already exported 1,279,642 boxes.
By Pacificpro Sales LLC, Belleville, WA
Good volume shipments are expected this entire season through the summer into new crop, on the primary varieties.
The entire 2023 Washington apple crop is currently in storage and controlled atmosphere rooms and is shaping up to be a great season for growers and consumers alike.
The harvest began in mid- August with the Gala variety and finished in November with the latest season variety to be harvested, the Pink Lady. Estimates put the total crop size in the 134 million box range. This is up over the 5-year average and a significant increase from the 2022-23 crop of 104 million boxes, a 29% increase.
The large crop is due to the ideal growing season in the spring and summer of 2023. The lack of any significant freezes after the bloom, no significant hailstorms or other weather damage, and 90-degree temperatures this summer resulted in a very clean crop with great sizing, color, crispness and flavor.
The warm days but not overly hot days, which would be more than 100 degrees, are great for sizing and sweetness, and when coupled with the cooler nights, results in great color and condition.
The Gala variety tops the list as the largest volume Washington apple variety this season at roughly 20% of the total crop or 26.5 million boxes, followed by the Honeycrisp, Granny Smith, Red Delicious and Fuji.
The iconic Red Delicious has been usurped in recent years by the Gala as the largest Washington variety. The Honeycrisp saw a significant jump in total volume this year due to the larger crop and better quality resulting in higher pack-outs.
The newest broadly grown variety, the Cosmic Crisp, continues to grow in both availability and popularity, accounting for roughly 5% of this season’s total Washington crop.
Winter Iceberg and leaf lettuce shipments from the California and Arizona deserts have been practically non existent for the past week due the cold and wet weather. The situation could last into mid February.
The desert region received ¾” – 1+” of rain between Sunday, January 21 and Monday, January 22. Many growers were forced to cancel harvesting operations due to extremely muddy field conditions, according to Markon of Salinas, CA.
Over the past three weeks, the region has experienced freezing morning temperatures followed by above-normal humidity, and now significant rainfall. The erratic weather has caused many quality and shelf-life concerns to develop which will last for two to three weeks at minimum.
Markon inspectors are working with suppliers to minimize some of the following issues in lettuce and tender leaf items, but many cannot be avoided completely:
- Bottom rot
- Decreased case weights for commodity lettuce items
- Discoloration and/or decay on epidermal blistering and peeling
- Dirt/mud on the product
- Increased mildew pressure
- Premature pinking in some commodity and/or value-added salads or Washed & Trimmed leaf lettuce packs
- Reduced shelf-life potential
- Yellowing leaves/discoloration
- Ordering for quick turns is highly recommended
CHARLOTTE, NC – Dole Food Company recently announced the launch of a new weekly vessel service that will call the Northeast United States that started December 31, 2023.
The expanded service will increase capacity of tropical fresh fruits, including Dole branded bananas, pineapples, dragon fruit, mangoes and limes coming to the US from Colombia, Honduras and Guatemala into the Port of Wilmington, DE.
The service will deploy two 1,200 FEU container vessels, MV Robin-2, and MV Robin-5 in a 14-day rotation,with one of these vessels making weekly ports of call in Santa Marta, Colombia, Puerto Castilla, Honduras, and a new port of service in Puerto Barrios, Guatemala before landing in Wilmington, DE each Saturday.
Both additional vessels entering the expanded service will allow for optimum freshness of the fruit through increased sourcing options, discharges, and port rationalization. These vessels allow for increased fuel efficiency of our service derived from slow speed operation.
All other existing Dole shipping services will be unchanged.
Dole Ocean Cargo Express, the company’s commercial marine transportation service is also utilizing these vessels with the introduction of the Mayan Express Service between the Northeast United States and Colombia, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. The new service will expand ocean network coverage providing an additional alternative to North Central America to and from the Port of Wilmington, DE.
“Dole is excited to expand our service level into the Northeast, bringing even more fresh tropical fruit to market,” stated Nelson Montoya, President of Dole Fresh Fruit North America. “Both existing and future Dole customers can be equally excited at this growth in our service as we continue our journey to make the world a healthier place.”
About Dole Food Company
Dole Food Company, part of Dole plc, is one of the world’s largest producers and marketers of high-quality fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. Dole is an industry leader in many of the products it sells, as well as in nutrition education.
Los Angeles, CA – Pacific Trellis Fruit, LLC. dba Dulcinea Farms, the owner of the Dulcinea® brand, announced that after several years of successful production trials, they will be expanding the sourcing of their PureHeart® Mini Seedless Watermelon from Guatemala beginning in January 2024 and extending into April.
Product shipped will arrive via the West Coast Port Hueneme, California, as well as to the East Coast, through Port Everglades, Florida.
“We are extremely excited about this development as it will expand our ability to deliver Dulcinea PureHeart mini watermelons 52 weeks per year, “explained Rob Markel, VP of Sales – Melons at Pacific Trellis Fruit. “At this time, we are also growing the melons in both Los Mochis and Colima, Mexico, and the fruit to market ships through Nogales, AZ.”
“In addition, the watermelon from Guatemala is currently undergoing Fair Trade Certification, which is a rigorous and globally recognized sustainable sourcing model that improves livelihoods, protects the environment, and builds resilient, transparent supply chains” added Markel.
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About Pacific Trellis Fruit
Pacific Trellis Fruit® is one of North America’s top year-round importers, growers, and marketers of premium fresh fruit, including melons, grapes, stonefruit, cherries and citrus. In 2014, Dulcinea® was acquired by Pacific Trellis Fruit and became their consumer-facing brand. Dulcinea is the pioneer of the PureHeart® personal seedless watermelon, the Tuscan-Style® cantaloupe and SunnyGold® yellow mini seedless watermelon. Pacific Trellis Fruit also features Kiss Melons, a line of high quality, great tasting melons. Pacific Trellis’ corporate headquarters is in Los Angeles, CA, with sales offices in Fresno, CA, Gloucester, NJ, and Tucson, AZ.