Archive For The “Trucking Reports” Category
Supplies of refrigerated a equipment are tightening some as we get further into 
spring. How big a shortage of trucks for hauling produce will be this year will start to reveal itself in the weeks ahead and should be really interesting by late May and onward through the summer.
In Florida, blueberry loadings from Central and North Florida are now in good volume and hauls are available into June….Meanwhile, Georgia “blues” are right behind Florida. Good Georgia blueberry shipments should be available by next week….Back to Florida, rates for hauling watermelons out of the southern part of the state have jumped 20 percent in recent days. Vegetable volume from Florida continues to be heavy.
In South Texas, vegetables continue to be loaded, combined with a lot of veggies and tropical fruit from Mexico crossing the border into Texas. Cantaloupe shipments have started from the Rio Grande Valley. There’s still no overall damage reports on storm-hit watermelons in South Texas. There will be fewer loads, but who knows how much less? Loadings are light, but will be increasing and continue into mid-June.
In California, the Imperial Valley is quieter with the seasonal end of vegetable shipments. However, cantaloupe shipments will start in mid-May….About 300 truckload equivalents of carrots are being shipped weekly from the Bakersfield area.
Southern California continues to ship good volumes of avocados, strawberries and citrus…..The Santa Maria district, along with the Salinas Valley will become more active with produce shipments in the weeks ahead.
In Washington state, there are steady loadings of apples and pears from the Yakima and Wenatchee valleys.
Washington state apples and pears – grossing about $4200 to Chicago.
Southern California produce – grossing about $5000 to Chicago.
South Texas produce – about $4800 to New York City.
South Florida veggies – about $3600 to New York City.
Southern California orange shipments have picked up as late season citrus 
quality has improved. Loading opportunities for navel oranges should continue through most of June…..Looking ahead to cherry shipments, loads will become available later this year than normal – with decent volume not occurring from the Southern San Joaquin Valley until the second or third week of May. Barring bad weather, California could ship 11 to 12 million cartons of cherries this year.
California is shipping about 1,000 truckloads of strawberries a week, with heaviest volume still coming out of Ventura County….Most lettuce loads are coming from of the Huron District in the San Joaquin Valley….Salinas has light volume with broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce and other items, but is increasing and should really get going as we enter of the month of May.
Southern California produce – grossing about $6600 to New York City.
Fresh table grapes from Mexico should start crossing the Mexican-U.S. border
at Nogales, AZ within the next couple of weeks. Initial volume will be light, but will increase quickly. Beginning in early May there should be around 2.5 million cartons of grapes crossing the border weekly for distribution throughout the United States and Canada. This volume should continue until around the middle of June. From there it will start a seasonal decline with crossings ending in early July. In total, there should be around 15.5 to 16 million cartons of Mexican grapes cross the border.
As grape crossings increase, many of the spring vegetables from Mexico are decreasing.
Mexican veggies at Nogales – grossing about $2400 to Chicago.
California peach, plum and nectarine shipments, which were expected to start 
in a few weeks, will be reduced due to an April 11 hail storm. The affected area ranges from Hannaford to near Oros, with the Traver area hit hardest. Damage assessements and how much shipments will be affected are still being assessed…..Meanwhile, lettuce shipments continue from Huron in the San Joaquin Valley. Light to moderate vegetable loadings are taking place from Salinas.
In Florida, red potato loadings continue increasing from southern and central parts of the state. However, it is various spring vegetables still providing the most volume….The Sunshine state is still shipping citrus. Orange loadings should total 145 million boxes, up from 139 million a year ago. Florida grapefruit volume should hit 18.8 million boxes, up slightly from last year.
Steady shipments of Idaho potatoes continue, averaging about 1700 truckload equivalents per week.
Idaho potatoes – grossing about $4000 to Atlanta.
California Huron area lettuce – grossing about $7000 to Boston.
Central Florida vegetables – about $2600 to Philadelphia.
Your best bets for getting quickly loaded these days are Southern California, South and Central Florida, as well as Nogales, AZ.
In Southern Cal, whether talking strawberries, oranges, avocados and some
vegetables, the best volume is here, although there’s increasing activity in the San Joaquin Valley, Salinas and Santa Maria….Mexican produce crossing the border at Nogales continues in brisk volume, although we’ll start seeing a seasonal decline the further we get into April. By late April or early May imports of grapes from Mexico will start taking center stage.
In Florida, volume will should follow a similar path of Mexican imports at Nogales. There are large variences in Florida produce rates depending on the area, and the commodities you are hauling, and to a certain extent when you are available to load and how bad the shipper needs a truck. For example rates to New York are varying anywhere from $3000 to $4000.
In south Texas, hail damage a couple of weeks ago wiped out 20 to 30 percent of the areas 10,000 acres of watermelons. Some onions also were hit, but not as much. The Lower Rio Grande Valley also is a big shipper of grapefruit and oranges. But it’s going to be awhile before we’ll know how much shipments starting next fall will be affected.
Nationally, three percent more apples remain in storages for shipping, with much of that fruit being in Washington state. Steady shipments should continue through the summer.
Yakima Valley, WA apples – grossing about $5700 to Pittsburgh.
South Texas veggies – about $1600 to Oklahoma City.
Central Florida veggies – about $3500 to New York City.
Southern California produce – about $5000 to Chicago.
Southern California continues to provide the best loading opportunities
although this will be gradually changing in the weeks ahead as volume from the San Joaquin and Salinas valleys continue to increase. Helping to bridge the transition is the Santa Maria area found between Ventura County and Salinas.
Although about three-fourths of California navel oranges have been shipped, loadings will continue until early July….Strawberry volume is building from Oxnard to Orange County and the San Diego areas. Much ligher strawberry volume is now coming out of Santa Maria. This district also is shipping light to moderate amounts of broccoli, cauliflower and a host of other vegetables.
Looking ahead, California peach shipments, as with so many other produce commodities, should get underway earlier than usual this year due to the mild winter and favorable spring. Initial San Joaquin Valley peach shipments should start in mid-May, but volume loadings are not expected until early June.
Southern California produce – grossing about $6800 to New York City. Rates often tend to show strength towards the end of the week as truck supplies are depleted.
Georgia spring fruits and vegetables are generally a week or more early giving 
truckers some loading opportunities a little sooner than normal. Greens ranging from kale to mustard, collard, etc. are in a steady mode for harvest, packing and shipping. In the weeks ahead veggies ranging from beans to cucumbers, squash, eggplant, peppers, etc. will be coming on from central and southern areas of Georgia.
Light shipments of sweet Vidalia onions are underway, with good volume about another week away.
Something not widely known about Georgia is its blueberry shipments have significantly increased over the past eight years or so. In 2004 it had 20 million pounds of blues and this year it should ship about 50 million pounds, despite half of the crop being wiped out by a February freeze. In recent years Georgia has ranked anywhere from second to fourth in blueberry shipments, and this is expected to continue increasing.
Georgia peach shipments should be starting around May 10th from the Ft. Valley area. Volume is expected to be normal for the early and middle part of the season, although the late season peaches could yield lighter shipments if projections hold. Georgia typically ships peaches into August.
In South Carolina peach shipments should get underway around the third week of May.
Various greens from Georgia – grossing about $2600 to Philadelphia.
Florida tomato shipments have been heavy, but loadings are expected to
gradually decline some this week and continue this trend through April. Florida blueberry volume from central and northern areas of the state continues to increase. South Florida potatoes loadings continue to increase, while the biggest volume is building with various vegetables from the southern and central parts of the state. Favorable weather has most items ahead of schedule this year. Loading opportunities in Florida overall should be excellent this spring through May, or at least until hot summer weather starts taking its toll of the vegetables.
Florida vegetables – grossing about $3300 to New York City.
A mild winter, great spring and increasing produce volume is gradually 
increasing demand for refrigerated equipment in several areas of the country. This is resulting in rising freight rates, although higher diesel fuel prices is certainly putting a damper on many truckers getting too excited about these changes.
In Florida, we’ve seen rate increases of 10 to 15 percent in the past week as volume continues to build for spring vegetables, and red potatoes. Watermelon shipments are underway, but we’re another week or so away from good volume.
In southeast Georgia, light shipments of Vidalia onions are occurring, but decent volume won’t hit until around April 15th.
On the West coast, we’re seeing a few more $7000 freight rates to New York City and Boston, but the majority of rates remain a few hundred dollars less. But this is an indicator of what’s coming as volume continues to build from Southern California, the San Joaquin Valley as well as the Salinas area.
Mexican vegetables, melons and mangos crossing the border at Nogales, AZ are showing small rate increases as this area enters it’s final peak volume month for shipments.
I keep hearing about shortages of equipment for hauling sweet potatoes out of eastern areas of North Carolina, but there seems to be no increases in the freight rates. Could there be a correlation? Duh!
North Carolina sweet potatoes – grossing about $2250 to Chicago.
Southern California, avocados, berries, etc – about $6800 to New York City.
Nogales vegetables – about $5800 to Philadelphia.
South Florida veggies – about $3600 to Boston
As we move further into spring and there are shipping gaps with some fruits 
and vegetables, one of the most consistent items on a year around basis are potatoes. They certainly don’t always pay the highest of freight rates, but they are dependable, and usually less perishable; meaning less risk to the hauler and hopefully less chance of dealing with “claim happy” receivers looking to shaft you with a unfair deduction or rejection.
All potato shipping areas combined around the country are loading over 4,700 trucklload equivalents of spuds on average per week right now. Idaho is accounting for around 1750 truckload equivalents weekly. Other leading states currently shipping spuds are Colorado’s San Luis Valley, the Columbia Basin in Washington state and the nearby Umatilla Basin in Oregon, as well as South Florida and Central Wisconsin. Much fewer shipments are occurring from Western Michigan, Aroostrock County, Maine, as well as from the Imperial and O’Neill areas of Nebraska and the Red River Valley of North Dakota and Minnestoa.
Twin Falls Idaho area – grossing about $5300 to New York City
San Luis Valley – $1600 to Dallas.
South Florida – $2700 to Baltimore
NOTE: The new U.S. potato season usually kicks off around late July or August. A peek at the upcoming year for potatoes shows potentially good news if you haul the product, or if you are a consumer. Potato farmers in the Northwest once again can’t resist the urge (or is it greed?) to plant an additional 30,000 acres of spuds for the 2012-13 season. That will probably more loading opportunities and lower retail prices. It could also mean a disasterous season for growers if too many spuds end up in the distribution pipeline.