Archive For The “Trucking Reports” Category
Produce shipments will be starting soon involving Michigan asparagus, Vidalia onions, and grapes from Mexico.
Michigan asparagus shipments will get underway within the next week or so. While the Great Lakes State’s asparagus has traditionally been more of a local crop, Chicago has historically been a big market. Now, loadings are destined to markets in Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, Tennessee and even to Georgia. Another change is the crop used to go mainly to processors, but now keeps shifting more to fresh. For the first time last year Michigan shipped 12 million pounds of “grass” for fresh markets, compared to 10 million pounds for processing. This year fresh shipments are projected to increase by another five to 10 percent.
Michigan apple shipments – grossing about $3000 to Dallas.
Vidalia Onion Shipments
Concerning more produce shipments, while the Georgia Department of Agriculture has set April 25th as the official date Vidalia onions can be packed and shipped, in truth, every year the sweet onion is shipped prior to this date. The catch is it cannot be legally shipped under the Vidalia name prior to the official starting date. Shipping prior to official date increases the chances of the onions being “hot” and doesn’t help the image of the brand. Much of that is because early onion pungency levels are too high, making them taste hot instead of sweet.
Vidalia onions can only be grown in parts of a 20-county area in the southeastern part of Georgia. Last season, farmers harvested 268 million pounds of Vidalia onions from 11,200 acres. Value of production for last year’s crop exceeded $120 million.
Southern Georgia produce shipments – greens, carrots – grossing about $2200 to New York City.
Mexican Grape Shipments
As most Mexican vegetables crossing the U.S. border at Nogales wind down this time of year, an exception is grapes. The harvest in Mexico begins the first week of May. Mexican grape shipments soon follow, with volume increasing as Memorial Day approaches. Peak Mexican grape shipments will occur during June, then quickly wind down in early July. Estimates are sketchy right now, but early indications are that a good, but not record crop will be available for hauling.
Mexican melons, mangoes, veggies through Nogales – grossing about $3200 to Chicago.
From Santa Mara, CA vegetables, to Mexican imports and a USDA update on melon availablity, here are some shipping opportunities for produce haulers.
Vegetable shippers in California’s Santa Maria district see stable shipments this spring, even though the region didn’t get as thorough a winter soaking from El Niño as forecasts suggested. The California drought persists. Santa Maria started loading mixed leaf lettuce in early March, nearly two weeks earlier than usual. Salinas started at the end of the month.
Broccoli and cauliflower shipments are underway in Santa Maria, while celery has in light volume, but should be increasing this week. Santa Maria produce shipments also now include strawberries, celery, romaine, romaine hearts, Tuscan kale, red kale, green kale, cilantro and parsley.
Santa Maria vegetable shipments – grossing about $6500 to New York City.
Mexican Produce Imports
At Nogales, border crossing include Mexican vine-ripes, romas, grapes and cherries, which continue through April. With the finish of tomatoes, the new Mexican table grape season launches with crossings at Nogales and McAllen, Tx. Vine ripe tomato shipments from Baja California also begin crossing near San Diego.
Carrot shipments from the Bakersfield, CA area have shifted to the Imperial Valley.
Mexican vegetable shipments through Nogales – grossing about $2000 to Dallas.
Melon Shipments
The USDA’ Market News Service reported as of April 5th the “difference in pounds from average” as follows: Mexico/5.3 million pounds, up 11 percent; Honduras/1.8 million pounds, up 105 percent; Costa Rica/780,000 pounds, up 166 percent; Nicaragua/-468,000 pounds, down 100 percent; Florida/-680,000 pounds, down 100 percent; and Guatemala/-1.25 million pounds, down 21 percent.
Florida watermelon shipments are increasing, along with numerous vegetables.
South Florida watermelon shipments, vegetables – grossing about $1000 to Atlanta.
California cherry shipments are just around the corner and will be followed within weeks by loadings out of the Pacific Northwest.
Shipments of California cherries should start around April 22nd from the Stockton area, with volume ramping up by end of April. Heaviest volume is expected during the first three weeks of May.
Usually, California’s peak shipments occur leading up to Memorial Day (May 30th), but this year with an earlier maturing crop, good volume is expected leading up to Mother’s Day (May 8th). This means there probably will be more cherries shipped from California this year in April than ever before, thanks in part to a couple of new early maturing cherry varieties.
Huron district head lettuce in the Central San Joaquin Valley – grossing about $4600 to Atlanta.
Washington cherry shipments are expected to be a week later than last year, around the week of June 6th. This will result in a relatively small shipping the gap between California and Washington. The gap will help both California and Washington, once they start their season. British Columbia cherry shipments are also expected to start a week later than usual, around June 20th.
Due to extra plantings coming into production this year in both Washington and Canada, initial expectations were around 30 million boxes, but this amount is expected to be lower in the wake of a recent frost. Even still, a 30% increase in tonnage is expected for Canada this year.
Washington’s Yakima Valley apples and pears – grossing about $5300 to New York City.
A
re Florida spring produce shipments finally getting back on track? It’s been a lousy year for Florida growers and shippers, not to mention produce truckers.
After an unseasonably warm fall, the region was hit by severe storms and record-breaking rains. Rainfall was 139 percent above average in November, 199 percent above average in December, and nearly 350 percent above average for the month of January. Planting, spraying and harvesting schedules were delay for many of the area’s signature crops, including sweet corn, green beans, lettuce and leafy greens, parsley, radishes and sugar cane.
While produce shipments are late for some crops because of some delays in planting, loadings should become more steady heading on into spring.
Over the next couple of months, there should be good volume with items ranging from tomatoes, to green beans, blueberries, cabbage, celery, sweet corn, melons, lettuce, cucumbers, eggplant, peppers, potatoes, radishes and squash. However, the strawberry season is drawing to a close.
Florida produce shipments ranks number one in the U.S. with a number of fresh fruits and vegetables including grapefruit, snap beans, squash, sugar cane, cucumbers, oranges, tomatoes and watermelons.
By mid-April, new-crop shipments of tomatoes and other items should start coming out of the Palmetto/Ruskin area of Florida.
Florida vegetables – grossing about $1900 to Chicago.
Shipments of both avocado and mangoes are on the rise and will continue to increase as we get further into the year.
California avocado shipments are now providing steady loadings for produce truckers from both southern California and the San Joaquin Valley. The California harvest is now exceeding 10 million pounds per week and will continue to increase through the spring. Shipments are expected to peak in late June, and remain strong throughout 2016. A significant dip in avocado shipments is not expected until after the Super Bowl, Feb. 5, 2017, in Houston.
While California avocado shipments tend to be hauled to markets in the western half of the U.S., much of the avocado supply for U.S. markets is coming from Mexico, which tends to serve destinations in the eastern half of the U.S. Mexican avocado shipments also are heavy this year, with the majority of imports crossing the border at McAllen, Tx.
Huron head lettuce and San Joaquin Valley citrus – grossing about $5600 to New York City.
Mango Imports
Mexican mango shipments imported to the USA were unseasonably low during March. For the week ending on March 19, 1.2 million boxes arrived from Mexico, making it 4.8 million boxes for the season. That is down from the same week in 2015, when 1.5 million boxes arrived and 5.9 million boxes had come in for the season. However, mango imports are now on the rise and big volume supplies are crossing the border from Mexico, as well as arriving at US ports by boat from Guatemala.
Lower Rio Grande Valley citrus, Mexican mangos, tomatoes, vegetables – grossing about $2600 to Chicago.
Georgia, known as the Peach state, has been growing the fruit for 140 years. Excellent peach shipments are forecast.
There are approximately 10,000 acres of Georgia peach farms stretching across the historic Fort Valley plateau. 90 percent of Georgia peaches are grown in this region of Georgia, located just south Macon and west of Interstate 75.
Georgia peach shipments are expected to get underway the third week of May, with good volume shipments occurring for deliveries prior to the May 30th Memorial Day holiday. Georgia peach shipments will continue through the end of summer.
Due to ideal winter growing conditions, Georgia peach shippers see a bumper crop that could become the biggest in more than a decade. Harvest should begin May 15th.
This year, Georgia growers and shippers expect to harvest 80 million pounds of peaches, which could pack 3 million, 25-pound half bushel cartons, double the 1.5 million cartons they packed last season. This would be the largest volume since the 2004 season.
Besides the Eastern U.S. and the Midwest, Georgia Texas and Canada are among the strongest destinations for Georgia peaches.
Good, steady peach shipments are expected through the end of August without significant peaks and valleys.
Produce trucking in the Southeast leaves something to be desired, despite it being April. You might get some partial loads in Florida and finish of the truck out in Southern Georgia where there are light shipments of vegetables such as carrots, kale and other greens.
Southern Georgia vegetables – grossing about $2200 to New York City.
Imported grapes from Peru are now being handled by a port of entry in Georgia.The Port of Savannah is now receiving Peruvian imported grapes, adding to the list of cold-treated perishables using Savannah as a port of entry. The port also is handling avocados, citrus and sweet onions from Peru, although the season for the latter commodity has recently ended.
With the introduction of Peruvian red globe grapes, Savannah is now receiving all of the grape category leaders from Peru.
The grapes, moved from Andean Sun Produce farms in Ica and Piura, Peru, are part of a USDA’s program, in which citrus, grapes and blueberries are chilled for at least 17 days prior to entry into the U.S. Removing potential pests via cold treatment reduces the need for pesticides.
By delivering fresh produce in Savannah, receivers are taking advantage of much shorter and faster refrigerated truck transportation to Atlanta and other major markets across the U.S. Southeast. For example, this means only a four-hour truck ride to Atlanta versus a day and half from the Philadelphia ports.
The USDA program to allow cold-treated produce to enter through more U.S. ports will relieve congestion at older ports of entry, while shortening the supply chain between producers and final consumers. The ultimate goal is to deliver imported fruit to our U.S. receivers faster, fresher, and at competitive prices, cutting logistics costs.
As imports of melons from Central America begin to wind down, domestic loadings will become available from California and Arizona, as well as with melons crossing the border from Mexico.
Cantaloupe. honeydew and watermelon shipments from Arizona and Mexico are expected to start earlier than normal this year as imports from Guatemalan and Honduran come to a close in early May.
Various melons from California’s Imperial Valley should start shipping in late April and hit peak volume in May, perhaps its earliest start ever. This will be closely followed by melon shipments originating around May 10-15 from Yuma and Maricopa, Az. From there cantaloupe and honeydew loadings will start from California’s Westside district in the San Joaquin Valley around the 4th of July.
California Onion Shipments
California onion shipments from the Imperial Valley should get underway in mid April, lasting about five to six weeks. Normal acreage in the 10,000-acre range is being reported. The Imperial Valley should have onions through May, when the harvest shifts to the San Joaquin Valley. The central valley had less acreage last year, primarily to the California drought.
Southern California citrus and avocado shipments – grossing about $3700 to Chicago.
Southeastern blueberry shipments are running about two weeks later than normal.
Due to unusually warm winter, produce truckers can expect a later start for Florida and Georgia blueberries and good volume for both states is expected two weeks later than usual. In late March, harvest was light in the southern part of Florida near Wauchula.
Some operations started harvesting light volume in mid-March, but packing in volume isn’t expected until April 15. The transition to Georgia is expected to start in mid-April. Something different in Florida is a slow season with drawn-out shipments vs. a seasonal production peak. Florida should ship blueberries through late May, instead of the more typical mid-May finish. As for Georgia, peak loadings should start about May 7, later than the state’s typical late April peak.
This year, Florida expects to ship around 18 million pounds, down from last season’s 25 million pounds. Florida blueberry shipments will be light through early April with larger, truck load volume planned for April 15-20, about two weeks later than normal.
Early season Georgia blueberry shipments will be lighter because of cold weather during February in the Homerville, Ga. area. Up to 25 percent of Georgia’s early crop could sustain losses and good volume shipments are not expected until May.
In Florida, decent volume shipments are not expected until April. Florida will have its heaviest shipments in late April and in mid- to late April, when both states will be shipping.
Florida berries, veggies and tomatoes – grossing about $1000 to Atlanta.
Sweet onion shipments are lower this season from Texas and Mexico as we move closer to loadings out of Vidalia, GA. Red potatoes are picking up in one state, while showing disappointment in another.
Peruvian sweet onion imports ended in early March as imports began from Mexico. However, Mexican onion imports are lower this season and are now starting to wind down. At the same time, Texas onion shipments from the Lower Rio Grande Valley have started.
Initial reports indicate Texas acreage will be under 5,000 acres, down from the 6,000-acre industry norm. Still, Texas onion shipments are now in good volume.
However, the nation’s biggest volume sweet onions come out of the Vidalia, GA area. Vidalia onion shipments are scheduled to get underway April 25th. A near perfect growing season has been reported from Vidalia. This season, Vidalia should have production from about 11,600, down a little from a year ago, when there was over 12,000 acres.
The Vidalia region’s 65 growers in 2015, shipped 17% of Georgia onion shipments in April, 36% were moved in May, 27% in June, 16% in July and 3% in August. Total shipments of Georgia onions were about 4.2 million 40-pound cartons in 2015.
Red Potato Shipments
The Red River Valley (eastern North Dakota and western Minnesota) usually has its biggest shipments during November and December, but a bumper Wisconsin red crop and a weak Canadian dollar over-supplied a market resulting in fewer shipments. This year February and March are believed to be the two busiest months with 539,000 hundredweight (cwt.) shipped from the Valley in February, up over 13% compared to last year, and slightly more than either November or December. Some wash plants have added extra shifts to handle the demand and trucks have been in good supply thanks in part to the slowdown of the oil patch in western North Dakota.
Meanwhile, the later Florida crop is expected to be better, but who knows for sure considering the early Florida crop didn’t live up to expectations. South Florida red potato shipments are expected to increase in early April.
South Florida potatoes, tomatoes and vegetables – grossing about $2100 to New York City.
Red River Valley potatoes – grossing about $3000 to Dallas.