Archive For The “Trucking Reports” Category
Fall official begins in the USA on September 22nd, 9:49 CST. However, in a 
sense fall really kicks off in the minds of many, after Labor Day, September 3rd. It also means the beginning of fall produce loads for many new items, and is the start of late season shipping for a number of produce items. Total USA produce volume does not match that of summer, but it certainly beat the low volume season of winter.
California provides a lot of loading opportunties for produce haulers during the fall season.
Grapes – Historic shipments of table grapes from the San Joaquin Valley will peak in September. Nearly 110 million 19-pound cartons are expected to be shipped by the end of the season in late 2012.
Oranges – While the smaller valencia loadings, expected to total 28 million boxes, end in October, the much larger navel orange crop kicks in as valencia finish.
Apples – While shipments have been underway for several weeks, loadings of the popular fuji and granny smith varieties have just started.
Strawberries – Shipments are running about 11 percent ahead compared to this time last year. While loadings are past their summer peak, decent volume continues into the fall. Through August about four to five million trays were being shipped, and this will drop to around three to four million trays during September. While most strawberry shipments through the summer have been from the Watsonville/Salinas area, those loadings with be in decline before ending in late November. The volume from that area will be replaced with shipments originating from Oxnard.
Pomegranates – This may not be one of the visible or promenate produce items for hauling, yet there will be about four million boxes of pomegranates shipped, beginning in early October.
Kiwifruit — About two-thirds of the loadings originate out of the Southern San Joaquin Valley and about one-third from the northern Sacramento Valley. Shipments are expected to be down 15 to 20 percent for the 2012-13 season, with loading forecast at about 7 million, seven pound trays, with loadings to kick off around the second week of October.
Persimmons – Average shipments are forecast, with loadings becoming available around the third week of September from such towns as Madera and Reedley.
Pumpkins – Shipments got underway from around Manteca, CA the week of August 27th., which is about normal. However peak loadings are not expected until the end of September and early October.
There will be fewer apples for hauling in two of four of the leading eastern states this fall. 
New York got hit the hardest by frost related weather earlier this year, but there also will be fewer loads available for produce haulers in North Carolina. Pennsylvania and Virginia will be up in volume only slightly.
New York state’s Western and Central apple shipping areas were hit the hardest, with less frost damage occuring in the eastern part of the state, home of the Hudson Valley. Still, New York’s volume will be down 52 percent from last apple season ( 590 million pounds compared to 1.2 billion pound a year ago).
In Pennsylvania, apples are forecast to be at 481 million pounds. It shipped 458 million pounds last year.
North Carolina took a beating. This year it expects to load 40 million pounds of apples compared to 140 million pounds in 2011.
The leading apple shipper in the mid-west, Michigan will ship 85 percent fewer apples this season.
Ironically, Washington state, which normally ships about half of the nation’s apples every year, is expected to account for 77 percent of the nation’s apple loads for 2012-13. This is despite suffering some hail damage. The state was on track for historic volume, until the fowl weather hit. Still, Washington state is expected to have its second largest amount of apple shipments on record.
One difference produce haulers can expect out of the Northwest this season is for Washington shippers to be packing more apples than normal in the smaller, consumer bags. This is because Michigan normally is heavy with bagged apples, and Washington packers will be looking to help fill this void.
Produce truckers should always watch what is being loaded, not only for proper count, but for quality and appearance of the product being loaded. This is especially true if you are hauling apples from most shipping areas this season. Expect shippers to be loading some fruit with pits or hail damage marks on it. Just make sure whom you are hauling for is aware of this situation to help reduce changes of claims or rejected loads. Also, be sure and note it on the bill of lading.
Washington state apples grossing – about $5600 to New York City.
As expected, there will be a record number of cherries shipped from 
Washington state this season by produce haulers.
Washington state had shipped 18.7 million boxes of cherries as of August 22nd. If you include the Northwest, in other words, mostly Oregon, as of Aug. 22, 22.8 million boxes of cherries had been shipped, which also is a record. By the end of August most of the fruit will have been packed and shipped, and total volume will likely top a record 23 million boxes.
California table grape shipments are ahead of schedule this season due to the warmer-than-normal weather. The primary concern is if the San Joaquin Valley heat eventually starts taking a toll of the vineyards, which could lead to quality problems, something we’ll watch out for as it could impact claims or rejected loads for produce truckers.
It appears this year will be the first time California hits 100 million or more boxes of grapes.
In the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas, watermelon shipments continue. Quality appears good enough that you should be able to avoid unfair claims or rejected loads – depending of course, upon whom you are delivering to. There also are steady shipments of Mexican citrus, tropical fruit and vegetables crossing the border into South Texas.
In the Hudson Valley of New York, various vegetables such as sweet corn are being loaded in light to moderate volume. The new apple harvest has just started and volume is very light, but increasing.
South Texas produce loads – grossing about $220o to Atlanta.
San Joaquin Valley grapes – grossing about $4300 to Chicago.
Produce shipments from the Western half of the USA offer perishable haulers 
some obvious and not-so-obvious choices for obtaining loads.
Here’s some places you may not have considered. New crops of potatoes are now available in some upper mid-western states. The Big Lake, MN area is shipping both red potatoes and russets. New crops of spuds have recently got underway from Central Wisconsin, Nebraska and Northern Colorado.
In Idaho and Malheur County, OR., loading opportunities have recently become available with a new crop of storage onions. While the area is known for its onions, a few shippers are starting to offer sweet onions. Just be aware that these shippers are new at this game and still may be on a learning curve relating to quality. Sweet onions often do not store well.
In California, the heaviest volume from the Salinas Valley is with head lettuce, averaging about 1,100 truck load equivalents per week. Many other vegetable items are also being shipped…..In the nearby Watsonville District, about 750 truckload equivalents of strawberriers are being loaded weekly.
Plenty of loading opportunities are coming from the San Joaquin Valley of California with stone fruit, veggies and grapes. Heaviest table grape movement is from the southern valley area known as the Kern District, but volume is rapidly increasing from more northern areas of the valley.
An update on apple shipments from Washington state, shows it will account for 77 percent of the nation’as apple shipments during the 2012-13 shipping season. Washington always leads the nation in this category, but with heavy weather related losses to apples in Michigan and New York state, the northwest will provide an even more than normal percentage of the country’s apple loads. Washington expects to ship its second largest amount of apples in history; and this is despite a 10 to 15 percent crop loss due to hail storms earlier this year.
Salinas Valley produce – grossing about $7500 to New York City.
Big Lake MN potatoes – about $1300 to Chicago.
Central Wisconsin potatoes – about $2500 to Atlanta.
Late summer shipments of fresh fruits and vegetables continue in steady 
volume from around the country.
In New York state, onions have started from Orange County, while cabbage is coming from several areas in both the central and western parts of the state.
Michigan shippers continue to load a variety of vegetables, led by cucumbers and squash, particularly from the western half of the state.
It is a relatively short shipping season for red potatoes from the Big Lake, MN area. Those loadings will soon be giving away to the Red River Valley, which should move into volume shipments after Labor Day.
In California, stone fruit, grape and vegetables loads remain steady for the most part. A similar situation exits for vegetables from the Salinas Valley.
Tabulations for the outlook of national apple shipments have been issued at a recent outlook and marketing conference. The forecast predicts the smallest apple crop since 1986. This would amount to 192 million bushels, ranking it as the 31st biggest crop that will be shipped.
While the forecasts for the East and Midwest regions declined this year, the forecast for the West increased by 6 percent. And although some of its crop was damaged by hail, Washington state is still forecast to produce 135.7 million bushels, 5 percent above its 2011 production.
Washington state apples and pears – grossing about $5600 to New York City.
Michigan vegetables – about $900 to Chicago.
San Joaquin Valley produce – about $6000 to Atlanta.
Triple digit heat in much of the country has finally broken and fall shipments 
of fresh produce are coming. Two such items are fresh cranberries, that will be shipped from a handful of states, plus California apples that fill a niche between loadings of Chilean fruit and apples out of Washington state.
The third largest cranberry crop on record is being forecast by the USDA, amounting to 7.6 million 100-pound barrels. While Massachuetts will be down slightly from last fall, increases are seen in Wisconsin, Washington state, Oregon and New Jersey (the latter being virtually all processed fruit).
Expect Wisconsin cranberry shipments to get started around the week of September 17th, with Massachusetts starting around that same time as well. Oregon and Washington state seasonally start later.
While loadings begin in September, cranberries are still closely associated with the Thanksgiving holiday. Thus, the big volume is moved in the first half of November leading up to the holiday. With this big a crop, some loads will be moving after Thanksgiving (which is November 22nd) for the Christmas holidays.
California Apples
A lot more California apples used to be shipped than are today. This situation reminds me a bit of vegetables shipped from the Eastern Shore area of Delaware, Maryland and Viriginia. This region is sandwiched in between harvests to its south such as the Carolinas and Georgia, and to the north in shipping areas such as New Jersey and New York. If the Eastern shore veggies are too early or too late they are up against shipments from competing areas to the north and south of them. As a result of many “misses” compared to “hits” for the Eastern Shore, shippers have hurt. The result is fewer shippers and less volume than a decade or two ago.
If you are a veteran trucker who has hauled apples from California, you may remember in the mid 1990s there were around 10 million boxes of fruit being shipped for the season. Today, that number has dwindled to about 2.5 to 3 million boxes. Most of the loads originate out the Central San Joaquin Valley including San Joaquin County, Sonoma County and Santa Cruz County.
Shipments will continue through December. Leading apple varieties are fujis, galas and granny smiths.
While I’ve written some reports suggesting caution when loading Washington state apples from the Wenachee Valley due to 
damage from a July 20 hail storm, information is now starting to come out relating to the pears from the same area. Expect pear shippers to be loading some “hail grade” pears. Appearance is affected, but eating quality should be fine. Just make sure the parties with whom you are working to deliver the load are aware of this condition to the fruit and it is noted on the bill of lading. Washington state pear shipments are expected to set a record this season volume wise.
In Michigan, produce shipments have been running early this season, not only for vegetables, but blueberries. Expect both to complete shipping a week or two ahead of schedule this summer. Michigan blueberry volume will drop significantly beginning the week of August 27th…..Expect a similar situation with “blues” coming out of Oregon and British Columbia.
In the San Luis Valley of Colorado, potato hauls should be ramping up by the end of August…Virtually all USA potato shipping areas are expecting to load more spuds during the 2012-13 shipping season.
On the East Coast, watermelon shipments have increased significantly over the past three years from Maryland and Delaware. Virginia also is shipping melons…..Expect increased loading opportunities on watermelons for the upcoming Labor Day weekend from areas ranging from West Texas to Indiana and North Carolina.
Delaware watermelons – grossing about $1100 to New York City.
Looking across the USA, there will be a lot of loading opportunities for apples, 
particularly in the west, although fewer than a several months ago before weather factors hit some orchards.
In the East, there actually should be a few more loads available for the 2012-13 season from both Pennsylvania and Virginia. No word on the New England states, but volume from there is relatively light even in good years.
New York state, particularly the central and western shipping areas took a significant hit from freezing weather earlier in the year. The Hudson Valley apparently escaped pretty much unscathed. Overall, New York state apple shipments will be down around 50 percent, estimated to be about 590 million pounds. Before the freeze, the state was looking at about 1.2 billion pounds of apples.
Poor ole Michigan took the biggest hit from freezing temperatures this year. At one time is was looking to ship 985 million pounds. Apple tonnage now is forecast at only 105 million pounds.
Washington state, which on any given year shipments about as many apples as the rest of the other states combined, also lost tonnage a few weeks ago from hail storms. However, it was on course to have record shipments. Even though that will not now happen, it still will be loading as much fruit on average, as it has over the past five seasons.
Washington’s Yakima and Wenatchee Valley apples – grossing about $5300 to New York City and Hunts Point.
California continues to work its way through the peak summer shipping season 
as much of the middle part of the country stays in the weather’s frying pan. While this may not be good for crops and livestock in the Mid-west, it is contributing to strong, steady shipments off of the West Coast.
For example, tomato shipments from USA areas such as Arkansas, Tennessee and South Carolina have been hit hard by the heat wave. This is resulting in more demand and better California loadings, whether it is tomatoes from the San Joaquin Valley, Ventura County, San Diego County, or even from Mexico’s Baja California.
Meanwhile, California should be shipping 4 to 5 million trays of strawberries weekly right on through August — mostly from the Watsonville District. During September, loading are still expected to remain strong — in the 3.5 to 4 million-tray range. While quality of strawberries has been a little up and down this year, some observers are predicing the berries will be much better the latter part of the season. That would be great not only for strawberry lovers, but for the guys and gals hauling them. Better quality should mean fewer claims or rejected loads.
There also remains mostly steady shipments of Salinas Valley vegetables, plus fruits and vegetables from throughout much of the San Joaquin Valley.
Salinas Valley produce grossing – about $7500 to New York City.
While Washington state apple shippers are wringing their hands over the crop 
and profits that could have been, apple haulers probably won’t notice a lot of difference this 2012-13 season, since even after a hail reduced crop, shipments will be right in there with the average for the past five years.
One difference however, are the possibilities truckers may face with claims, unless you make sure the buyers know what is being delivered. There could be some hail damaged apples shipped to market this year; ones that look a little roughed up on the outside, but the quality is supposed to be good on the inside.
The apples with damage from hail will have “dimples” that turn brown and have a russetted look.
Some orchards totally escaped damage from the July 20 hail storm, while others were hit with varying amounts of damage. Much of the hits were taken by the Red Delicious variety.
The five-year average for Washington state apple shipments has been 100 to 110 million cartons. Before the hail storm, shippers were looking to move as much as 120 million cartons of apples this season. Loading opportunities are still expected to be good, despite the predictions of 10 to 25 percent of the crop being lost.
Updates on the amount of damage to apples from the hail storm are expected to come out within the next week.