Archive For The “Trucking Reports” Category
Desert produce shipments are winding down headed towards an earlier-than-normal finish out of the Arizona’s Yuma district and California’s Imperial Valley.
Volume is already very light on broccoli and cauliflower from the desert regions. Meanwhile, those same items are getting an early start from the Salinas Valley.
Salinas vegetable shipments started with very light volume a week ago, and it will the week of March 16th before broccoli and cauliflower start hitting good volume.
Meanwhile, a similar situation exits with lettuce ranging from Iceberg to romaine and leaf lettuce, which are winding down in the desert areas….To bridge the gap between the desert areas and Salinas, there is about a three-week shipping season out of the San Joaquin Valley’s Huron disrict. However, there’s going to be a shipping gap as Huron lettuce shipments won’t get underway until the week of March 23rd.
Meanwhile, shipping gaps with head lettuce, romaine and leaf that were common during the desert winter shipping season are expected to remain in play through March and into April as Salinas starts shipping.
California/Arizona desert vegetables – grossing about $6500 to New York City.
Salinas/Santa Maria vegetable shipments – grossing about $4500 to Chicago.
The first 20 years of NAFTA has had a big time impact on the fresh produce industry, and produce trucking.
Americans are now consuming twice the fruit and three times the vegetables from Mexico and Canada as they did before 1994, and it takes refrigerated equipment to deliver it to markets.
Likewise, U.S. growers and shippers more than tripled the amount of produce they export to Mexico during the first 19 years of the North American Free Trade Agreement, according to a recent report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Part of the increase in Mexico’s produce imports from the U.S. is attributed to the rapid expansion of Mexico’s supermarkets. As of November 2014, H-E-B had 43 stores in five Mexican states, and Wal-Mart had 2,114 stores in Mexico.
The U.S. is now importing more cucumbers and mushrooms from Canada than it exports. Before NAFTA, the U.S. was a net exporter of those commodities to Canada.
“In 2011, Mexico and Canada combined supplied about 13 percent of the fresh or frozen fruit available in the U.S. and 17 percent of the available fresh or frozen vegetables. In 1990, these shares each equaled 6 percent,” according to the USDA’s report.
Details on specific U.S. production and import/export of specific commodities are included in the report. There are also discussions about retaliatory tariffs related to cross-border trucking requirements.
During the past decade Georgia has become a leading shipper of blueberries, but a recent freeze has raised concerns about volume for the upcoming season.
Estimates vary on how many South Georgia blueberries were damaged during a series of late February freezes, but much of the confusion is due to numerous micro climates that exist in the growing areas.
The freezes hit February 17-20 and during the early morning hours of February 20, temperatures fell into the low 20s for several hours in the Alma, Baxley, and Homerville, Ga., blueberry growing regions, damaging the early season part of the southern highbush crop.
Damage estimates range from 10 to 40 percent.
Georgia harvests and ships two blueberry crops.
Southern highbush blueberry shipments start in mid- to late April while the rabbit eye shipments usually begin in late May. Some growers ran frost protection because of the cold temperatures, resulting in ice damaging many limbs. Losses were higher for growers that didn’t irrigate.
It appears now Georgia “blues” may start shipping up to two weeks later – in late April.
Last year, Georgia shipped 56 million pounds of fresh berries, up from the 32 million shipped in 2013.
Homerville, which normally starts shipping around April 10 with an early variety, may not start loadings until April 20, with Alma and Baxley set to begin closer to May 1.
Otherwise, Georgia produce shipments are pretty quite right now with about the only loadings being with limited amounts of greens and carrots….Certainly no straight loads here. If you are coming out of Florida, you might pick up a pallet or two on your way north.
Here we take look at Washington apple shipments, Idaho and Oregon onion loads, Idaho potatoes, plus the outlook for California strawberry shipments coming for Easter.
Washington state ships approximately 60 percent of the apples in the United States, but it is responsible for over 90 percent of the apple exports. In a typical year, Washington exports one-third of its production outside of the United States. Needless to say, exporters were relieved to see the port labor dispute on the West Coast settled.
Yakima Valley apples – grossing about $1000 to Seattle, $5000 to Dallas.
Idaho Potato Shipments
Looking at the Twin Falls, ID area, potato shipments remain pretty steady from week to week and are averaging around 1800 truck load equivalents per week….Moving to western Idaho and eastern Oregon, there are about 300 truck loads of dry onions moving from storages per week.
Idaho potatoes – grossing about $5600 to New York City.
Western Idaho and Malheur County, OR onions – grossing about $4700 to Atlanta.
California Strawberries
Easter Sunday is April 5th, and all three California berry growing regions will be up and running, and shipments should be good. Also, keep in mind the primary California strawberry shipping areas are cranking up a couple of weeks early this year because of excellent growing conditions.
Oxnard, which typically peaks from mid-March to mid-April is starting shipments about two weeks early. Santa Maria will also will have strawberry shipments for Easter, while Watsonville will play a supplemental role with light strawberry volume for the holiday…..Currently Oxnard not only has light volume with berries, but other items ranging from celery to romaine and leaf lettuce, as well as cabbage.
Ventura County (Oxnard) produce – grossing about $4500 to Chicago.
It will take several months for West Coast ports to return to normal and catch up on a backlog that has piled following a nine-month labor dispute. The two sides reached tentative agreement February 20 on a new five-year contract.
All kinds of agricultural commodities, including produce, were affected by the dispute, which began after the last contract expired July 1. Though the terms of that contract were extended and there was never an official strike, there were many disruptions caused by work slowdowns or the closing of the ports by the terminal operators.
Ag groups and other experts say the dispute cost the U.S. economy more than $7 billion. No numbers on the cost to the trucking industry was given. While $7 billion is a significant number, it pales in comparison to the estimated $2.1 billion that would have been lost each day if the ports would have been closed by a strike or a lockout.
The Chilean produce industry, which exports fruits and vegetables to the United States to ports on both coasts, report the west coast port problems cost its industry $50 million. The port work slowdown had delayed the unloading of ships from a two-day average to 7 days and was expected to get even worse before the agreement was reached.
It was reported last week there are approximately 1.8 million boxes of fruit from Chile at the ports. If the dispute had not been resolved, the situation would have become dramatically worse. In mid March, 5 ships are scheduled to the ports with a combined total of 2.5 million boxes of fruit.
Southern California fruit – grossing about $4200 to Chicago.
Freezing temperatures late last week that descended upon the South apparently sparred most Florida vegetables. However, some big time damage has hit blueberry crops in Florida and Georgia.
Florida Produce Shipments
Widespread damage to Florida vegetable crops, which is less than two months from entering peak spring shipments, apparently has been avoided. Strawberries in the Plant City area also escaped damage. Temperatures were reported around or just below freezing. Assessments are underway and more will be known in the days ahead. There are reports of freezing pocket areas scattered around Florida. For example, there are reports of damage to green beans and sweet corn in the Lake Okeechobee area, where growers had helicopters flying to circulate the air. This helps keep temperatures up.
South Florida vegetables – grossing about $2800 to New York City.
Georgia Blueberry Shipments
However, blueberries in Northern Florida and Southern Georgia the night of February 20th were not so lucky. There are areas in the Gainesville, FL area where there is definite blueberry damage. It is reported that other Florida blueberry shipping areas didn’t get hit with cold enough temperatures to hurt the fruit.
However, it is different in Georgia. Temperatures in the low 20s for several hours occurred in the Alma, Baxley, and Homerville, Ga.,regions, which experienced their third consecutive night of freezes.
It may be the end of February before the full extent of the damage in Georgia is known. Blueberry growers ran frost protection systems throughout the night. Damage may be less severe in Homerville, which is farther south than the other areas and is in a warmer microclimate.
The early blueberry shipments set to start in mid-April sustained the most damage and the state’s loadings could be delayed until early May.
From North American potatoes, to desert vegetables, here is a shipping update.The potential for potato shipments in the U.S. and Canada is up 2 percent from the previous season. About 510 million cwt. (per hundredweight) of potatoes were produced last fall in North America. About 408 million cwt. were grown in the U.S., 102 million cwt. in Canada. The U.S. total is 3percent more than the year before, the Canadian total 1 percent less. The U.S. harvested 929,500 acres, down from 930,500 acres in 2013. However, U.S. yields increased from 425 cwt. to 439 cwt. per acre. Canadian acreage fell from 351,300 in 2013 to 343,700 last year. Yields rose from 292 cwt. to 297 cwt. per acre.
Idaho potatoes shipments – grossing about $6000 to New York City.
Desert Vegetable Shipments
Perfect weather in the Southwestern deserts of Arizona and California may be great for production and volume with head lettuce, romaine, broccoli and other vegetables. However, demand for such items in portions of the upper Midwest, and especially the Northeast has been killed because of snow storm after snow storm. The desert shipping areas have another month or so before the transition to the Huron district in the San Joaquin Valley. Vegetable loadings typically occur for about three weeks from Huron before shifting to the Salinas Valley.
Desert vegetables – grossing about $5400 to Atlanta.
An extended warm weather streak is occurring in the California and Arizona deserts, resulting in fair to good movement of vegetables. The only problem is treacherous winter weather in many northern and northeastern markets is hurting demand.
Desert vegetable shipments are taking place from the Imperial, Coachella and Pal Verde valleys of California, as well as the Yuma area in Arizona. Everything from head lettuce to romaine, as well as broccoli and cauliflower, and greens are being loaded. The primary problem might be if there are some temporary shipping gaps due to weather factors earlier in the season….Mexican asparagus volume is building at the Calexico, CA border crossing.
Carrot shipments from the Bakersfield area are averaging over 300 truck loads per week.
While strawberry loadings out of the Oxnard district are light, there is better volume with celery.
California citrus shipments ranging from oranges to tangerines and mandarins are available from shippers in Central and Southern California.
California avocado shipments have recently got underway and the forecast calls for loadings to total 327 million pounds during the 2014-15 season, about 10 percent greater than this past season. Volumes are expected to build into March with ‘promotable’ volume beginning in April.
Overall, this is perhaps the lightest volume time of the year for California produce shipments, which too often results in multiple pick ups to fill the trailer.
California desert shipments – grossing about $4400 to Chicago, $6500 to New York City.
Here’s a glimpse of produce shipments from Mexico crossing the border at McAllen, Tx, plus some domestic items coming out of the Lower Rio Grande Valley.
Sweet onion shipments from Mexico and Texas are expected to start later than normal this year. By contrast, in the Northwest storage onion shipments could last longer than normal simply because there is such a big volume.
Mexican sweet onions shipments are expected to start crossing the border into South Texas in good volume by the middle of March, which would be three to four weeks later than normal. South Texas sweet onions also are behind schedule and should get underway around mid to late March…..Meanwhile, imports of sweet onions from Peru are expected to wrap up by the end of February.
Meanwhile, there’s dozens of other items crossing the border from Mexico into the Lower Rio Grand Valley. Mexican avocado shipments are averaging over 500 truck loads per week. There also are lesser amounts of produce shipments ranging from Mexican strawberries and limes to tropical fruits and vegetables.
While much of the Texas produce growing over the past couple of decades has shifted to south of the border, South Texas growing operations are still in business.
Texas grapefruit shipments are averaging around 200 trucks loads weekly, with Texas oranges amounting to roughly one-half this amount…..The Lower Rio Grande Valley, as well as the Winter Garden District, which is closer to San Antonio, are shipping cabbage in light, but increasing volume.
South Texas produce shipments – grossing about $2800 to Chicago and $4700 to New York City.
Apple shipments continue to be one of the best bets for produce haulers this time of the year, but with the huge amount of product remaining in storage could present some problems when it comes to claims.
About 3 million boxes of apples are being shipped weekly, mostly from Washington state, but so much fruit remains, there are rumblings of how well some apples are holding up in storage. One problem cited is with shrinkage, particularly with the Honeycrisp variety, as well as with the smaller sized fruit sold in club stores in larger sized bags. Additionally, there have been reports of problems with some Fuji apples. Some are lacking full color, but more importantly is the problem of the fruit showing decay.
It is reported some of the poorest quality apples are being dumped, along with some sizes and grades that marketers are unable to sell. Still, just use extra caution when picking up a load.
As of February 1st, there were about 95 million bushels of domestic apples for the fresh market remaining to be shipped. That is a whopping 24 percent more than a year ago. The total for February also is an astounding 35 percent greater than the five-year average.
Washington state apples account for about 84 million of the 95 million bushels of the fruit still in storage. Michigan apples accounts for about 3.9 million, while New York apple shippers have 3.8 million and Pennsylvania about 1 million bushels.
There also are concerns among some shippers with the arrival of March when southern hemisphere apples begin arriving, will it hurt sales and shipments. Imported apples often cost more, but that could become secondary to apple buyers (such as retailers) if the domestic fruit is coming out of storages with quality issues.
Western Michigan apples – grossing about $3500 to Dallas.
Hudson Valley, New York apples – grossing about $2600 to Atlanta.
Yakima Valley, Washington apples – grossing about $4300 to Chicago.