Archive For The “Trucking Reports” Category
Despite a freeze on January 3-4, which caused some damage to early spring Florida produce, overall it has been a warmer-than-normal winter and most 
shipments should be one to two weeks earlier. Florida’s peak spring shipments will occur from late March, extending into May until hot weather begins reducing volume.
Florida spring loadings often involve multiple pick ups of items ranging from bell peppers to squash, cabbage, cucumbers and other veggies. Loads with multiple pick ups often mean multiple drops at the other end of the haul, so be sure and negotiate your freight rates with this in mind.
Tomatoes are a big volume item from Florida and expect loads to be available a week earlier than usual from the Immokalee and Palmetto-Ruskin areas — starting in early April.
As for citrus, shipments are expected to wind down up to three weeks earlier on items such as tangerines (late March) and grapefruit (in April). Tangerine loadings normally end in late April.
Florida ships a significant amount of spring red potatoes from the southern part of the state such as from Lake Wales. Heaviest red potato loadings take place during March and April.
Florida watermelon shipments will get underway in early April.
South Florida red potatoes grossing about $2600 to Philadelphia.
Some of the best loading opportunties this time of year are out of the Northwestern United States – namely with Washington state (apples, pears, potatoes and onions) and Idaho and Oregon (onions and potatoes). While the onions and spuds may pay a lower freight rate than fruit, this region at least has good volume in late winter.
Washington’s Yakima and Wentachee valleys continue shipping a lot of apples and lesser amounts of pears. Apple loadings are averaging about 2,500 truckload equivalents per week, with pears loading around 400 truckload equivalents weekly. I use the term “equivalents” in the Northwest since a heavier percentage of produce is shipped by rail than most regions.
There also are onions being shipped from Washington’s Columbia Basin, as well as the nearby Umatilla Basin in Oregon. The two areas combined are averaging around 670 truckload equivalents per week being shipped….The Western area of Idaho and adjacent Malheur County of eastern Oregon is loading about 750 truckload equivalents of onions weekly.
Idaho easily remains the largest shipper of russet potatoes, but has been increasing shipments of red potatoes in recent years. Most produce is originating out of the Upper Valley and the Twin Falls-Burley District. The state is shipping over 1,550 truckload equivalents per week.
Washington apples/pears are grossing about – $6000 to Miami.
Washington’s Columbia Basin potatoes/onions – $3800 to Chicago.
Idaho/Oregon onions – $1600 to Los Angeles.
Idaho potatoes – $5300 to New York City.
Easter is Sunday, April 8th and is always big for such items as strawberries and asparagus. California will be just about the only place shipping such items for Easter as Mexican strawberries will be pretty much finished for the season, while California “grass” from the desert may not have the greatest volume with its season just getting underway. California strawberries will have the market to itself with Florida and Mexico shipments finished. California berries will be heaviest out of the Oxnard district, with lighter volume coming out of Santa Maria.
In Michigan, apple shipments continue from the Western Part of the state, primarily from the Grand Rapids area. The state should ship about 23 million cartons, down some from its record setting season that had 28 million cartons of apples.
In the Appalachian district of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia about 50 truckloads of apples are being shipped each week. New York state is loading about 200 truckloads of apples weekly from the Hudson Valley, as well as Central and Western areas of the state.
Southern California berries, citrus grossing – about $5600 to New York City.
Western Michigan apples – $3200 to Dallas.
Central New York apples – $3150 to Boston.
I have just returned from Florida and over the weekend had the opportunity 
to attend the Florida Strawberry Festival at Plant City, FL, just east of Tampa. Before talking about the event, here’s the bottom line on Florida strawberry shipments. Volume is good from the area, with over 400 truckloads being shipped weekly. However, if the warm, humid weather continues shipments will start rapidly declining, which is pretty normal for the last half of March.
Strawberries grossing about $1,000 to Atlanta.
The Florida Strawberry Festival has been held since 1930 and is quite similar to a state fair with everything from midway rides to a queen contest and awards for cake decorating, plus plenty of entertainment, among countless other activities.
I caught the show by the pop group Air Supply on Saturday night (March 3). I’m told they had several big hits during the 1980s, but I guess I missed them somehow. Anyway, wasn’t my flavor of music, but they did have a great band!
If you’re looking for something to do and in the area, it can be a fun event, which lasts through March 11th. By the way, lots of huge, beautiful flats of strawberries are being sold at the festival for $7 and $8.
The seasonal change in California shipping areas for vegetables will be here sooner than you think. In March shipments will start winding down from the desert areas such as the Coachella Valley and Imperial Valley, as well as the Yuma district in Arizona. This can be a tricky time of the year, which can either result in shipping gaps as one area may finish before the other start. However, unless adverse weather changes things it should be a fairly smooth transition this spring.
As produce shipments move from the desert up north, there is actually a limited amount of broccoli being loaded from Salinas, CA. Broccoli volume is expected to be limited until the third or fourth week of March…..Head lettuce and leaf lettuce should start loadings in late March from Huron District in the San Joaquin Valley. These shipments will last a month or so before transitioning to the Salinas Valley around the third week of April.
The Santa Maria District typically starts lettuce shipments ahead of Salinas and Huron. Look for loadings of leaf, romaine and butter lettuce from Santa Maria to get underway in Mid March.
An exception to all this are carrots. This veggie is typically shipped from the Bakersfield area from Thanksgiving to mid-March. Then shipments will transistion southward to the desert areas of the Coachella and Imperial valleys.
As the seasonal light to moderate winter produce loadings continue, California 
remains your best bet. There’s items ranging from strawberries to avocados in Southern California. In the desert, mixed vegetables ranging from lettuce to cauliflower, broccoli and celery are being shipped. One cautionary note: Excessive supplies of vegetables have led to a glut in the market due in part because of a mild West Coast winter. If any weather event on the East Coast that ma occur, compounds the problem as receivers don’t want trucks stuck in snow, ice etc. with a load of perishable produce.
In the Gulf Coast area, there is Texas cabbage coming out of the Winter Garden District just south of San Antonio. Further south in the Lower Rio Grande Valley there is citrus and mixed veggies, plus crossings of numerous items from Mexico….In nearby Louisiana and Mississippi, sweet potatoes continue to be shipped….In the east, there are sweet potatoes loading from North Carolina. On some days there’s been a shortage of trucks in NC, but this may be in part due to sweet potatoes not being known to get a very good freight rate.
Light to moderate apple shipments are coming from the Applachian District of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. Apples are being shipped from New York’s Hudson Valley, as well as central and western parts of the state….The new crop of red potatoes from South Florida are now being shipped.
California desert vegetables – grossing about $5400 to New York City.
Mississippi sweet potatos – $1700 to Detroit.
South Texas and Mexico produce – $2100 to Atlanta.
Central New York apples – $1600 to Baltimore.
We’re getting more information on how shipments may be affected from Georgia and Florida following a freeze from about a week ago.
In Georgia, it is becoming clearer the cold temperatures did significant damage to blueberries — perhaps as much as 50 percent of the crop. Hardest hit were the early Georgia berries, which typically start in late April and provide loadings through May….There will also be some losses of Vidalia sweet onions, but shipments are not expected to be significantly affected overall. Onion loadings should kick off in a small way around April 10-15 and move into good volume over the next two weeks.
In Florida, the cold front was not as serious, although initial predictions see blueberry shipments being cut by 20 percent for the season. Florida blueberries usually begin harvest in the southern and central parts of the state by late March, finishing in early May. The northern Florida blueberries typically are finished by the middle of May.
In general, the Southeastern freeze damage occured north of Interstate 4 and became progressively worse the further north you go.
Some quality problems with imported grapes from Chile have been reported. 
It’s not believed to be a major problem, but it IS major, if you are the one delivering those grapes and end up in a claims dispute over quality. The issues on both red and green varieties range from the size of the individual grapes to color and quality. So be extra careful in observing and checking what is being loaded onto your truck. These quality problems are expected to last until the end of the season in April.
By mid April imports of Chilean grapes are expected to drop off quickly.
Chilean grapes from the Port of Long Beach to Chicago – grossing about $3700.
We are several weeks away from Southern shipments of blueberries as well as 
sweet onions from Georgia’s Vidalia district. However, a recent freeze in the Georgia and Northern Florida is bound to reduce volume and loads. It is a matter of determining how much.
Blueberry shipments normally start in late March and continue until Mid May from Northern Florida, followed by Georgia, which starts in late May. Early estimates are all over the board and too unreliable to really get a handle on at this time.
Southeastern Georgia’s famous Vidalia sweet onions are also going to face some losses, but intial inquiries show those losses should not be heavy to the overall shipping season. It still appears volume could be close to normal once loadings begin around the second week of April and then shipments should start really picking up within a week or two.
Produce shipments out of Southern California are entering decent volume for 
strawberries, but avocado loadings will be limited for awhile. Better weather conditions compared to a year ago have strawberries loadings more than double over 2011 volume. About 25 to 30 percent of California’s total strawberry shipments come from Ventura County and south. Overall, California is forecast to ship 176 million trays of strawberries this year.
As for avocados, Californa expects to move nearly 400 million trays. Loading opportunities from California have been less than normal as many West Coast shippers are holding onto product waiting for big volumes from Mexico and Chile to subside. Expect significant increases in California avocado shipments come April.
From the Bakersfield area, there’s about 300 truckload equivalents of carrots being shipped weekly….There also is fair volume with items such as lettuce, celery, cauliflower and broccoli being loaded from the Coachella and Imperial valleys of the California desert.
Southern California berries, citrus is grossing about $5500 to New York City.
Imperial Valley veggies – about $3600 to Chicago.