Archive For The “Trucking Reports” Category
With over 30 million bushels of apples in the USA remaining in storages to be 
shipped, steady loading opportunties through much of the summer are expected, especially from Washington state. There is one percent more fruit remaining in storages than last year’s large crop, and three percent more tonnage remaining compared to the five-year average.
The Yakima and Wenatchee valleys of Washington state are averaging about 2500 truckload equivalents of apple shipments a week, although this amount includes some shipments by rail….By contrast, Michigan apple loadings are amounting to around 125 truck loads per week….New York state apple shipments are similar, but declining as the season winds down.
Washington apples – grossing about $6200 to Atlanta.
Michigan apples – about $2800 to Oklahoma City.
FREEZE UPDATE — I reported on May 9 a major freeze hitting Ontario and Michigan apple shipping areas, as well as New York and possibly Pennsylvania. This will affect your loading opportunities starting in late July and August and continue for the 2012-13 apple shipping season.
It will be June, if not July in some instances, before it is known how much next season’s apple shipments will be hurt, but it will be substantial. The damage to Ontario’s 16,000 acres of orchards has been termed “catastrophic,” a pretty harsh term for normally optimtistic produce shippers. It also known there is significant damage to apples in Michigan and upstate New York.
In Florida while some vegetable shipments, such as peppers are on the 
decline, items such as potatoes, watermelons and tomatoes are providing better loading opportunities.
Florida is shipping about 500 truckloads of potatoes weekly and product is now coming out of the Hastings/Palatka area…..Watermelons are moving in much heavier volume, over 2,200 truckloads a week, from southern and central Florida. There also is good volume with tomatoes from the southern and central parts of the state.
If you are in Florida and need to fill out the truck, southern Georgia continues to ship greens, squash and other vegetables….Vidalia onions are now moving in good volume….In the Ft. Valley area, peach shipments have started…..Peaches in South Carolina are only a few days behind Georgia and both states should provide good loading opportunities – especially through the month of June.
South Carolina also has light to moderate volume with greens, sweet onions, cabbage, parsley and cilantro. Coming in June will be shipments of corn, tomatoes and peppers.
Looking ahead, North Carolina loading opportunities for watermelons and cantaloupe will be coming the last half of June.
Southern New Jersey continues to ship light amounts of lettuce and asparagus. These items will be winding down with the month of May, but will be replaced in June with vegetables ranging from bell peppers, cucumbers, green beans, tomatoes, as well as blueberries and peaches.
Central Florida tomatoes, watermelons – grossing about $4100 to New York City.
Georgia vegetables – about $2700 to Philadlephia.
While Georgia greens, cabbage, squash and Vidalia sweet onions shipments 
have been underway, more items are joining the “party.” Over the last half of May loadings will begin for cucumbers, bell peppers, watermelons and blueberries from southern areas of the state. Volume on “blues” will be lighter than usual at the start due a freeze earlier this year. Most of the vegetable shippers have operations scattered between the Georgia/Florida state line stretching northward up to the Americus and Cordele areas….Vidalia onions, and some other vegetable shipments are in the Southeastern part of Georgia.
Just south of Macon, GA is the Ft. Valley area, famous for its Georgia peaches. Loadings for the stone fruit should get started in a light way within the next week or so, with good volume coming about a week later. About 2.5 million boxes of peaches should be shipped this season, down a little from the bumper loadings of a year ago.
South Georgia vegetables – grossing about $2800 to New York City.
Southeastern Vidalia onions – about $2600 to Chicago.
Looking ahead in Washington state, unless weather changes everything, 
record cherry shipments are being predicted. Coming out the Yakima and Wenachee valleys, cherry shipments kick off the second week of June and will continue into mid July. Meanwhile, if you’re in the region, steady shipments of late season apples and pears continue.
In Nogales, AZ, the U.S. Custom and Border Protection has expanded lanes for trucks importing Mexican produce to eight lanes. Mexican grapes are now crossing the border and an estimated 8 to 9 million cartons are expected to be shipped to points throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Looking down the road a bit, vine ripe tomatoes out of Southeastern Arkansas could start shipping one to two weeks early this year. Light volume is expected by late May, with good volume coming within a week or so. Shipments are expected to continue into mid-July.
Blueberry loads are now available from Southern Georgia, joining other items ranging from greens to squash, cucumbers and peppers. Southern Georgia’s Vidalia onions are now in peak movement to markets, particularly in the eastern half of the country.
In California, grapes and melons are coming out the desert, while Southern California continues to ship berries, avocados, citrus and some veggies. Look for building volume on vegetables from the Salinas Valley….May should be an interest month as we monitor building produce volume, availablilty of refrigerated equipment, and its effect on freight rates…..As always, truckers’ abilities to find westbound freight to pick up fruits and vegetables in California and the Northwest will be a challenge.
I’ve recently returned from a produce show in Dallas and although freight rates on 
California produce loads have recently been steady, or in some cases declining a little, most people I’ve talked to (shippers, wholesalers, truck brokers, trucking companies) only see this as the calm before the storm. In coming weeks as volume builds throughout many California shipping districts, they are expecting rates to show significant increases. $9000 produce rates from the West Coast to the East Coast are expected to be common. Some would not be surprised if rates hit $10,000.
Here’s the outlook for loading opportunities on the huge volume of summer fruit that annually is shipped from California.
Strawberries – Mostly available right now out of Southern California and to a lesser degree from Santa Maria. Yet California ships 88 percent of the nation’s strawberries and it really cranks up in a few weeks when Watsonville starts shipping in volume.
Blueberries – These berries are now being loaded out of the Arvin district and as the season progresses will move northward in the San Joaquin Valley to Delano and Kingsburg. California expects to ship 15 to 20 million pounds of “blues” this year.
Melons – watermelon and honeydew from the Bakersfield area kicks off in mid-June, followed by cantaloupes around July 1st.
Stone Fruit – It was in 2008 around 60-million 25-pound cartons of peaches, plums and nectarines were shipped, but last year loadings were down to an estimated 47 million cartons. Don’t expect anymore this year. California has been shipping too much stone fruit that doesn’t taste very good, and are replacing some orchards with improved varieties….Cherries are a different story. Californians know how to grow good tasting cherries! This year the state should be loading decent volumes of cherries by the third week of May. Shipments should be in the 8 to 10-million box range; 12-million boxes in the unlikely event perfect weather continues.
Table Grapes – The Coachella Valley is currently shipping grapes and will continue through June. Shipments will then transition to the Arvin/Bakersfield district, where the huge volume will begin and gradually moves northward through the San Joaquin Valley. California may have record shipments this year, and top 100-million boxes for the first time.
Apples – California isn’t really known for apple shipments as it is dwarfed by Washington state. However, it does have 16,000 acres of orchards and available loads should be similar to last year. Shipments of the gala variety begins in late July and runs through mid-September. This variety will be followed by granny smiths in August and and fujis in September and cripps pink in October.
Oranges – The 75-million-plus cartons of navels are pretty much history for this year, while smaller loadings of valencias are now being shipped. About 28 million, 40-pound boxes of valencias should be shipped.
Going from East to West with U.S. produce shipping areas, in Florida I’m not sure why 
rates are little, if any more to Boston than to New York City. Afterall, you’ve got another 200 miles to Boston from Florida. Of course, Boston traditionally offers fewer return loads. So if you can gross $3600 to New York, surely a load of Florida vegetables, melons etc. should be getting close to $4000.
Southern Georgia shipments are cranking up with peppers, squash, greens and cabbage, while Southeastern Georgia Vidalia onions are in full shipping mode. Overall, expect Vidalia onion loadings to be off 20 to 30 percent this season due to disease.
In South Texas, sweet onion shipments are two to three weeks ahead of schedule and should be pretty much finished around May 10th. The Lower Rio Grande Valley also is loading items ranging from citrus, to beets, greens, cabbage, etc.
There are steady shipments of Idaho potatoes — grossing about $4200 to Atlanta.
The same holds for storage onions from the Idaho and Malhuer County, Oregon region — grossing about $5400 to Baltimore.
South Texas produce – about $2800 to Los Angeles.
Vidalia, GA onions – about $2600 to Chicago.
Whether talking the desert areas of the Imperial or Coachella Valleys, or 
Southern California to Ventura County, Bakersfield, and on to Santa Maria and Salinas, produce is being shipped. Granted, not all the areas are in full harvest, but shipping areas are abundant. It will only get better for produce haulers in the weeks ahead as demand for refrigerated equipment increases and rates climb accordingly.
In the desert, you’ll find bell peppers, beans and sweet corn in both the Imperial Valley and the Coachella Valley. Cantaloupe loadings begin in a couple of weeks or so. Also, the Coachella Valley ships the first domestic grapes in the U.S. each year. Coachella grape loadings will begin a week to 10 days earlier than normal this year — around the first week of May. Loadings should continue through June, with about 9 million cartons forecast.
California cherry shipments begin from the central and south areas of the San Joaquin Valley the first half of May, but expect shipments to be lighter than normal. Heaviest cherry loading opportunities come with the later bing cherry variety from the Stockton-Linden-Lodi area. Overall, unless Mother Nature does a whack job on these perishable beauties, California should ship 8.5 to 9 million boxes of cherries, the most in a decade!
California desert vegetables – grossing about $7200 to New York City.
Produce shipments from the Huron District in the San Joaquin Valley, as well 
as loads out of the Salinas Valley have returned to normal following disruptions due to rain. The seasonal transition of the lettuce harvest and loadings out of Huron are quickly shifting from Huron to Salinas. Volume is building from the Salinas Valley, not only with lettuce, but other vegetables, and should become heavy in May.
Here’s an update on San Joaquin Valley stone fruit shipments that get underway soon. Both peaches and nectarines usally start by late April, with plums coming on in May. Expect peach and nectarine loading opportunities this season to be off 20 percent due to hail. There was a 20-mile-long swath of the storm cutting through from Southwest of Kingsburg going east to south of Dinuba and Reedly. Shippers with stone fruit orchards you may load with in this area were adversely affected the most.
Looking ahead to the Bakersfield, Kern County shipping area, potato shipping will get underway the second week of May with red, yellow and russet spuds. This will be followed by watermelon loads becoming available in early June, while table grape shipments get started in early July…..Meanwhile steady shipments of carrots are continuing from this area.
Salinas Valley vegetables – grossing about $7000 to New York City.
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.