Archive For The “Trucking Reports” Category
Even though Thanksgiving is a couple of days away, most orders by receivers now involve restocking after the big turkey feast.
Desert Vegetable Shipments
Here’s an update on desert shipments from Yuma, AZ and California’s Imperial Valley. Plus, here’s a glimpse at loading opportunities regarding Washington state apples and Idaho potatoes.
With San Joaquin Valley lettuce from the Huron district all but history, the head lettuce harvest has just started from Yuma, AZ, although shipments remain minimal. Yuma typically about starts about a week or two ahead of shipments from the Imperial Valley. Lettuce from there won’t get underway until around December 9th.
However, cauliflower, as well as some leafy greens have just started from Brawley in the Imperial Valley, with broccoli following in early December.
Celery will continue to be shipped out of Ventura County through the end of the year, when loadings then shift to the Imperial Valley.
Desert veggies, plus cantaloupe – grossing about $5200 to Atlanta.
Washington Apple Shipments
Never mind Washington apple shipments are down this season, it is still a huge crop and plentiful loading opportunities remain for at least the next six months. Yakima Valley apple shipments, as well as the Wenatchee Valley are shipping on average about 2,500 truck load equivalents of apples a week, and this doesn’t even include pear loadings.
Washington apples and pears – about $7000 to New York City.
Idaho Potato Shipments
Idaho also has fewer potato shipments this season, but there’s still plenty of tubers for hauling. Idaho is averaging about 2,000 truck load equivalents per week of potatoes.
Idaho spuds – about $2900 to Chicago.
Texas citrus shipments from the Lower Rio Grande Valley have moved into good volume…..In Florida, tomato loadings are underway, but will not hit decent volume until the end of November.
In Texas, there has been a major change in citrus shipping. Paramount Citrus of Delano, CA has acquired Rio Queen Inc. in Mission, TX and Healds Valley Farms Inc. in nearby Edinburg.
As a result, Paramount Citrus now owns 10,000 acres in the valley, plus is handling sales and marketing for 40 growers with another 10,000 acres.
About 60 to 70 percent of the Lower Rio Grande Valley citrus shipments this season will be through Paramount Citrus. Consolidations in south Texas have been occurring for the past 25 years. There are now just a handful or so companies that both grow and ship their own citrus.
About 85 percent of the valley’s citrus shipments are with grapefruit, with the balance being in oranges. Total citrus shipments from south Texas this season are expected to be slightly below that of a year ago, but still will be a good sized crop.
South Texas Citrus, plus Mexican produce – grossing about $2300 to Chicago.
Florida Tomato Shipments
Due to heavy September rains, Florida mature green tomato shipments will be down by about 25 percent from the Homestead and Palmetto-Ruskins areas. Loadings also are taking place later than normal this year. Shipments typically start in late October and hit volume in mid-November. This year, however, volume shipments are not expected to begin until late November. Florida tomatoes are shipped in 25-pound cartons.
South Florida produce shipments – grossing about $2400 to New York City.
It is another big season for apple haulers. There are about 120 million bushels of U.S. fresh-market apples were in storage as of November 1st, 10 percent more than last year at the same time.
The November total also is 10 percent higher than the five-year average.
The nation’s leading apple shipper, Washington state, has about 99 million bushels of apples still in storage…..Michigan has about 8.3 million bushels left to ship, while New York has 7.4 million and Pennsylvania 1.7 million.
Michigan apple shipments are expected to be 10 times as plentiful as last year’s puny output.
In a typical year, Michigan’s 9.2 million trees produce 20 million to 23 million bushels.
The state’s 2013 harvest is projected to be around 30 million bushels, which roughly equals out to 382 medium-sized apples for every state resident; 12 for every American.
Nationally, about 21.6 million bushels of galas have yet to be shipped, up from 20.6 million bushels. Granny smith holdings were up from 11.5 million to 14.5 million bushels.
Red delicious in storage dropped from 35.5 million to 35.2 million bushels, fujis from 15.5 million to 13 million bushels and golden delicious from 12.4 million to 10.8 million bushels.
Holdings of traditional Eastern varieties including mcintoshes, jonathans, empires, romes and cortlands were up significantly from 2012, when freezes devastated Michigan and New York crops.
Washington apple shipments – grossing about $6400 to New York City.
Michigan apples – about $3000 to New York City.
Very light volume with vegetables from the California and Arizona desert areas have started, but it will December before any significant loadings occur.
The transistion from Salinas and Santa Maria to the Coachella and Imperial valleys should provide better volume than has occurred in recent months for up north, but we’re still talking mid December before this occurs — particularly with broccoli. Shipments should continue through March.
There has been limited volume underway since last week from the Coachella Valley with red leaf, green leaf, butter leaf, spinach and this week romaine is starting. There’s also other items becoming available soon from the Coachella Valley such as artichokes, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, and fennel.
A small amount of desert lettuce got undeway last week at Yuma, AZ, while more lettuce should start around Brawley, Calif., the first week of December.
In the weeks ahead keep a close eye on weather reports for the desert areas as the whims of Mother Nature in the winter can drastically affect available loadings.
Meanwhile, back in the San Joaquin Valley, table grape shipments continue steady in good volume averaging nearly 1,400 truck loads per week….A similar situation remains with carrots, primarily from Kern County, which are averaging about 450 truck loads each week.
Desert veggie loads (not accounting for multiple picks) – grossing about $6500 to New York City.
There are Florida produce loading opportunities available, but keep in mind it is autumn and volume is much lighter than it will be next spring. However, there are hauls available for vegetables, and strawberry loadings will be available this year, earlier than normal.
Vegetable growers in Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry and Lee counties are shipping cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, herbs and fall watermelons while also preparing land and planting for later winter crops. In Miami-Dade County loadings of the fall vegetables and winter plantings have started. Cabbage and leafy greens are in the ground in Flagler and Putnam counties. Florida growers are also shipping eggplant, cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, fall watermelons and some specialty items.
Florida strawberry shipments will be starting earlier than normal this year.
Light loadings typically begin in late November, and slowly build in early to mid-December, with good volume occuring by late December.
Because of earlier maturing berries this year, excellent volume will be taking place in time for Christmas holiday deliveries. Produce truckers should expect high volume by late November and early December, with shipments hitting full stride around December 20th or so.
Florida strawberry shipments could be up as much as 20 percent this season. Big volume loadings typically occur through March and finishing by mid-April.
Florida veggies – grossing about $2400 to New York City.
There still will be a lot of potatoes for hauling this season which will extend into next summer despite the fall crop in the United States being down 5 percent compared to 2012.
Here’s a glimpse of the leading potato shipping states:
Idaho 132.9 million hundred weight (cwt)., down 6.3 percent; Washington 96 million, up less than 1 percent; Wisconsin 27.9 million, down 5.2 percent; Oregon 21.6 million, down 5.9 percent; Colorado 20.3 million, down 1.5 percent; Michigan 16.8 million, up 5.4 percent.
Idaho potatoes – grossing about $5400 to New York City.
Washington Potato Shipments
Year to date, loadings have been running a little ahead of schedule compared to recent years.
Most of this is due to early season shipments in July and August when potato supplies were very short across the country. Washington’s fresh producers account for 26,000 acres of the 160,000 acres of potatoes in the Evergreen State. About half of that total are russet potatoes, and the other half is a mix of reds, yellows, whites and other specialty potatoes.
Washington state, Columbia Basin potatoes – grossing about $4800 to Atlanta.
Red River Valley Potato Shipments
The North Dakota potato crop will come in at 22.6 million cwt. down about 10.1 percent from last year. Some folks were forecasting shipments to be down 25 to 30 percent at one point.
81,000 acres were planted in North Dakota compared to 88,000 last year, and harvested acres dipped from 84,000 last year to 78,000 this year.
Potato production in Minnesota dropped from 18.8 million cwt. in 2012 to 17.5 million this year, a drop of just under 7 percent. All but 2,000 of the 47,000 planted acres planted in Minnesota were harvested.
Red River Valley potatoes – grossing about $1900 to Chicago.
Texas produce shipments, largely out of the Lower Rio Grand Valley, are led by citrus, onions, cabbage and greens. However, if you are loading produce out of South Texas, chances are you are picking up fruits and vegetables grown in Mexico and delivered across the border to a distribution warehouses in McAllen, Pharr, etc.
Mexico has emerged as the source of about 60 to 65 percent of the fresh produce that is shipped from south Texas to markets across the U.S. and much of Canada.
About 40 percent of fruits and vegetables consumed in America have been imported.
In fact, Texas has surpassed Arizona, which includes Nogales, in terms of total volume of fresh fruits and vegetables coming across the border from Mexico. In 2012, approximately 160,000 truck loads of Mexican produce were hauled into Texas, with 100,000 of those truck loads crossing the border at the Pharr-Reynosa Bridge alone.
With the nearing completiton of the Mazatlan-Durango highway and Baluarte Bridge in Mexico, the volume is expected to keep increasing.
Part of this expansion is believed to be coming at the expense of California. That state’s high taxes, and ever increasing rules and regulations continue to add costs to the operations of businesses, both in produce and trucking alike. This is making Mexico more attractive for agricultural operations.
South Texas produce – grossing about $4200 to New York City.
From sweet potatoes to green beans, cranberries and more, here’s an outlook for fresh produce hauls relating to items popular for the Thanksgiving holiday, which is November 28th.
The leading states for sweet potato shipments are North Carolina, California, Mississippi and Louisiana. There will be 20 percent fewer loadings of North Carolina sweet potatoes this season, although it may not be noticeable during the next few weeks, since Thanksgiving is the most popular holiday for the product. There also is less sweet potato volume from Mississippi and Louisiana.
North Carolina sweet potatoes – grossing about $2250 to New York City.
Mississippi sweet potatoes – about $1800 to Chicago.
Cranberry Shipments
The harvest of cranberries in Wisconsin is late this season and is still going on. However, good supplies for hauling are available from Central Wisconsin, as well as the other leading state, Massachusetts.
Green Beans
This is a seasonal low point for Florida produce shipments, but some vegetables, including green beans are being hauled. Beans are now originating out of the Belle Glade and Homestead areas.
Imports
Spanish, Morroccan and Chilean clementines will be arriving at U.S. ports by boat in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. Most of the arrivals will be on the East Coast.
Peruvian Onions
Sweet onions from Peru have become a popular items during the past decade and volume has increased significantly. In fact, many of the leading domestic sweet onion shippers, are acting as the importers and have growing operations in that South American country. Arrivals are occurring in good volume at U.S. ports on the East Coasat and should continue into Feburary.
While mixed loads of fresh produce have become more common than ever over the years as distribution warehouses and other receivers look for ways to reduce inventories, there are even fewer straight loads of fresh fruits and vegetables this time of year. California and other areas tend to have less volume in winter. Translated – this often means multiple picks and drops. Those multiple pick ups too often are spread over hundreds of miles.
During the past decade or so a number of wholesale distributors have got into cross docking, particularly in the Los Angeles area, where product is consolidated at a central warehouse. This has helped some in reducing the number of pick ups, and ultimately helps deliver product faster to destination.
We’re entering a transition period with California produce loads where there’s light volume with lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower and berries from the Salinas Valley. There’s also light shipments of Huron district lettuce in the San Joaquin Valley.
Two of the heaviest volume items are California grapes and carrots out of the SJV. Grape shipments are averaging over 1,500 truck loads per week while carrots loads are hitting about 325 loads per week.
Moderate strawberry volume is originating out of the Watsonville district, as well as Santa Maria, but volume will soon be declining from those areas. Limited volume of strawberries have started from Ventura County and Southern California.
There’s a few vegetables coming out of the California desert and Yuma, but measurable volume is still several weeks away.
San Joaquin Valley produce – grossing about $7000 to New York City.
Southern California citrus – about $4000 to Chicago.
Here’s a round up of California produce loads, as well as loadings from Michigan, New York state and border crossings from Mexico.
California Navel orange shipments should hit about 88 million cartons for the season, down only two percent from a year ago.
Harvest has been underway about a month, with light shipments having started a couple of weeks ago from the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California.
Mandarin orange and clementine volume should be up a little mostly because of young acreage coming into fuller production.
Lemon loadings from California’s Imperial Valley and from Arizona should be up slightly this seaons.
The California desert, as well as the Yuma area in Arizona have light volume loadings of cantaloupe and honeydew. Lettuce shipments are still several weeks away.
In South Texas, watermelon shipments are winding down, but melons from Mexico are just starting and will be crossing the U.S. border , not only in Texas, but at Nogales, AZ, until next May.
Michigan Produce Shipments
The Wolverine state has light volume loadings of carrots, celery and onions, with better volume for apples, the later amounting to around 250 truck loads per week.
New York Apple Shipments
New York is a big state and apple loadings originate in Eastern areas, primarily from the Hudson Valley and near the western shores of Lake Champlain. Further west in New York, the primary shipping areas for apples are Utica, Ithica, Syracuse and Rochester. Apple shipments from the state are similar in volume to Michigan’s 250 trucks per week.
San Joaquin Valley produce – grossing about $6500 to New York City.
Hudson Valley apples – about $3200 to Orlando.