Archive For The “Trucking Reports” Category
Mexican watermelon imports are heavy, tomatoes moderate, with grape loadings about to start.
Mexican Grape Shipments
An early start to Mexican grape shipments through Nogales, AZ will take place as much as two weeks ahead of normal. That means the initial crossings will occur in late April. There should be good volume heading into Mother’s Day (May 11) as well as for the the long Memorial weekend (May 24-26). Peak shipments will occur during June and there still should be decent volume for deliveries prior the the Fourth of July weekend. No estimates have been provided on the size of the crop but it is not unsual for Mexico to ship 10 million, if not more cartons of grapes during the season.
Mexican Watermelon Shipments
Watermelon crossings into Nogales from Mexico continue to increase. About 1700 truckloads of melons are crossing weekly, with even heavier volume ahead. Mexican watermelons crossing into South Texas at Pharr are up to 500 truckloads weekly and are increasing as well.
Mexican Tomato Shipments
Mexican vine ripe and roma tomatoes are not crossing the border in the numbers watermelons are, but there is still moderate volume in both South Texas and at Nogales.
Both of these ports in Arizona and Texas are going to continue handling heavier volume of Mexican produce shipments in the years ahead. Each port has had significant upgrades to move traffic faster and more smoothly across the border. The new Mexican highway stretching from Western Mexico to nearly the Gulf of Coast will result in entries at South Texas growing faster than ever, especially for produce being shipped to the eastern half of the U.S. and Canada.
Nogales produce loads – grossing about $4500 to Atlanta.
Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas – grossing about $5700 to New York City.
Initial Vidalia sweet onion shipments from Southeast Georgia got underway April 16th, despite an order from the Georgia Agricultural Commissioner that loadings would not be allowed before today — April 21st. Bland Farms, the nation’s largest sweet onion shipper has been in a legal battle with Georgia over a starting date for Vidalia sweet onion shipments. However, The Superior Court of Fulton County, GA has declared the April 21st start day void, so the rest of the Georgia sweet onion industry may or may not have started shipping before April 21st. From a hauling stand point, it may not matter that much, since it will be the first half of May before there is good volume.
The whole onion “war” pits most Vidalia shippers and the Georiga Ag Department against Bland Farms. Supporters of the fixed starting date feel the extra time will allow the onions to mature and reduce chances of shipping poor quality, hot tasting onions, that hurts the reputation of the the Vidalia name.
Delbert Bland, owner of Bland Farms told this writer last winter that he should be able to ship sweet onions prior to the April 21st date, because part of his 3,000 acres of onions are in the southern most part of the 20-county region in Georgia. This is located where these onions can be legally grown, and is in this southern most area where onions mature earlier than other areas.
Here’s an outlook for Michgian apple shipments that will start soon with the new season. However, there are still plenty of apple loads remaining for the current season that started late last summer, particularly from Washington, New York, and Michigan.
Michigan apple shipments should be good this spring, despite a harsh winter. Initial loadings are only a few weeks away. However, the jury is still out on other fruit items ranging from blueberries, to cherries, grapes, plums, apricots and peaches, The fate of these items and the amount of damage will depend largely on what Mother Nature has in store the next few weeks.
National Apple Shipments
Concerning the old apple crop, about 48 million bushels of U.S.-grown fresh-market apples had yet to be shipped as of April 1, three less than last year at the same. The April total was, however, eight percent higher than the five-year average. Washington accounted for 41.7 million bushels of the U.S. total, Michigan 2.8 million bushels and New York 2.5 million bushels.
Michigan apples – grossing about $3400 to Dallas.
Washington state apples – grossing about $4000 to Chicago.
Mango Imports
Mango imports in 2013 compared to 2000 have increased a whooping 236 percent from Peru. Peru is now the second largest source for imported mangoes, representing 10 percdent of mango volume. Another big importer is Ecuador, which also has seen a rise in imports to the U.S., with a 160 percent increase from 2000 and 21 percent over last year. Peru has seen the biggest jump, with a 53 percent increase over last year. As of mid-March, 12 million boxes had been shipped. The projection for the year is 10.9 million boxes.
California spring produce shipments are gradually building in volume as we look at Salinas vegetables and some San Joaquin Valley stone fruit. But overall, this spring and summer in California doesn’t appear to be shaping up as any barn burner when it comes to volume and loading opportunities. Between the continuing drought in the state and only moderate volume with many fruits and vegetables, I don’t see produce freight rates setting any records.
Salinas Valley vegetables have had some ups and down in volume recently due to weather, but head lettuce and other items should be significantly increasing as we get closer to May.
Broccoli and cauliflower shipments are expected to fluctuate over the next several weeks.
Meanwhile, Huron lettuce shipments from the Westside district of the San Joaquin Valley have been lighter than normal this season as the one-month spring shipping season comes to a conclusion.
California Cherry Shipments
The California cherry harvest is shaping up to be a light crop this year
California initial loadings should start around Easter in the Arvin district and peak cherry shipments should occur from mid-May into the first week of June, with product becoming available from the San Joaquin Valley further north in areas such Fresno and Reedley.
Salinas Valley vegetables – grossing about $7000 to New York City.
Florida spring produce is entering its peak shipping period.
This week south Florida sweet corn shipments hit good volume and peak loadings will continue through Memorial Day. Around the last week of May, Georgia will start taking the spotlight with corn shipments.
Florida sweet corn volume is up dramatically from last year. Plus, this is the largest volume in the past four years.
Green bean loadings from the Belle Glade, FL area will continue strong through Easter, then began a decline before ending the first week of May. This will be followed by Georgia bean shipments getting underway around May 10.
Florida Blueberry Shipments
Florida berry shipments have on going for about a month, and should continue until June. Afterwards, loading opportunities become available in Georgia, followed by North Carolina, New Jersey and the Pacific Northwest, where berries are picked until late September.
Florida blueberry shipments have roughly tripled over the last 10 years, and this year’s crop is likely to reach 25 million pounds before giving away to Georgia blues. Michigan, the nation’s leading blueberry shipper, produced 87 million pounds in 2012. In 2013, Chile exported 174 million pounds of blueberries, most of them to the United States.
Florida produce shipments – grossing about $3400 to New York City.
Most California strawberry shipments are originating out of Southern California, primarily Ventura County and Orange County. Very light volume is coming out of Santa Maria, while initial shipments from the Salinas/Watsonville District could get underway in late April.
Look for the first domestic table grape shipments in the United States to get underway out of the Coachella Valley in early May. However, it will probably be the third week of May before there is good volume.
Stone fruit shipments out of the San Joaquin Valley are on track to start in very light volume in early to mid May.
Meanwhile, Salinas Valley vegetable shipments continue to build in volume led by lettuce, broccoli and cauliflower, with dozens of other items in the mix as well.
Salinas Valley produce – grossing about $7000 to New York City.
Southern California strawberries and citrus – grossing about $4500 to Chicago.
South African Imports
South Africa began exports of citrus to the U.S. 15 years. ago. Imports will once again soon be arriving at American ports.
Exports of oranges from South Africa to the United States hit a new record in 2013, with over 39,000 metric tons. This is a 25 percent increase in quantity compared to 2009 and nearly an 800 percent increase since the program started in 1999.
While loadings of Mexican grown veggies are quickly becoming history at Nogales, AZ distribution centers, watermelons from south of the border are rapidly increasing, and will soon be followed by grapes.
Easter is April 20th and loading opportunities should be good during the next week to 10 days for arrivals of melons on the retail produce shelves. Mexican watermelon shipments are much early than normal due to warm weather in Mexico.
Mexican Grape Shipments
Meanwhile, Mexican grape loadings will be the earliest they’ve been in the past five years. Light volume of Mexican green grapes will be crossing the border at Nogales the last week of April, while red grapes will likely follow in early May. Good volume should be available on both greens and reds by May 15.
Meanwhile, there’s a great variety of various vegetables and tropical fruit crossing the border from Mexico into South Texas. The Lower Rio Grande Valley continues to ship citrus and onions.
South Texas produce – grossing about $5300 to New York City.
Chilean Fruit Imports
Name just about any fruit import from Chile this season and there has been signficantly less volume. This goes for grapes, stone fruit, etc. While these items are pretty much finished for the season, Chilean kiwi imports are just getting underway. However, the forecast says there will be a 55 percent decrease in Chilean kiwi this season.
Florida vegetable shipments should experince significant increases entering April, with peak spring shipments occurring from about April 15th to the second week of May. Good growing conditions should mean heavier volume loadings earlier this year than last year with items ranging from sweet corn to bell peppers and cumbers, along with tomatoes, watermelons and other items.
20 years ago, there were virtually no Florida blueberry shipments. It was mostly U-pick farms and berries grown for local markets. This year, up to 25 million pounds of Florida blueberries could be shipped, putting the state in the ranks of other leading shippers such as North Carolina, Georgia, California and Oregon.
Michigan and New Jersey still lead in domestic blueberry volume with more than 50 million pounds each,
Florida shipped 21.5 million pounds of blueberries in 2013, up 14 percent over 2012.
Blueberry loadings in Florida have started with the past couple of weeks in Southern and Central Florida growing areas. You can expect North Florida blueberry shipments to start in mid-April. The crop is in good condition and Braswell expects volumes to peak during the second and third weeks of April, just ahead of the Georgia deal coming on at the end of that month.
South Florida produce shipments – grossing about $3300 to New York City.
The harsh winter has not only been tough on us, it will also have an impact on Michigan fruit shipments.
It’s estimated the brutle Michigan winter will slash Michigan peach shipments and wine grapes by 50 percent.
A fruit tree, grape vine, or small fruit bush is hardy down to a certain temperature. Apple and cherry trees can take the coldest weather, while peaches are some of the most vulnerable to the cold.
However, with peaches and grapes, the losses may not be as bad as they appear. A grower usually will prune 50 percent of the peach blossoms to produce bigger fruit. Nature may have just saved peach growers some extra work. In wine grapes, the grower can adjust pruning methods later in the season, and still produce a nice amount of wine grapes.
Minus any more damaging weather conditions, the peach and wine grape shipments have the potential to be average to a little lower than average.
Michigan blueberries may also have some damage, but the losses will vary from variety to variety. Some blueberry varieties are more cold hardy than other varieties.
There is good news for Michigan’s apple crop and cherry shipments. These tree fruits are among the most cold tolerant. Right now very little damage is expected from the winter cold on apples and cherries.
Warm winter weather throughout California and south of the border is expected to bring shipments of Coachella Valley grapes, as well as Mexican grapes through Noglaes, earlie than usual this spring.
Mexico and Coachella typically start within days of each other, although Mexican grape shipments tend to be a few days earlier. Shipments of green grapes from Mexico should start in light volume in late April, with Coachella grape shipments getting underway by early May.
Loadings of red grapes will typically start within a week or so after the green fruit is underway. Good volume of both Mexican and Coachella Valley grapes are expected for Memorial Day. Peak shipments from both areas should occur from the last week of May through the middle of June.
While a forecast has yet to be made for the upcoming grape shipping season, during the 2013 season California shipped 117.4 million boxes of fresh grapes.
Over the past 10 years the volume has significantly increased. In 2003 California grape shipments were under 80 million boxes. In 2012 the 100 million box mark was crossed for the first time in history, and in 2013 another record was set with the crop totaling 117.4 million boxes.
Top shipments to export markets last year were Canada at 11.9 million boxes, followed by Hong Kong/China at 7.9, and Mexico at 6.6. The 2013 season started with shipments in early May and continued into February 2014.