Posts Tagged “feature”
Kenny Lund doesn’t argue with the American Trucking Associations annual study, American Trucking Trends, which shows independent truckers and leased owner operators making $56,167 on average in 2014, which was 7 percent more income than the previous year. However, the vice president of operations for the Allen Lund Company, a third party logistics provider, says freight rates still aren’t increasing enough and operating costs are high.
For example, gasoline in California is $4 per gallon, while Number 2 diesel is about $3.50 per gallon. Take on excessive government regulations, plus an economy that leaves a lot to be desired, and Lund doesn’t see the freight rates keeping up with other costs.
“Truckers are making more money, but the rates aren’t up as much as expected, and the economy was expected to be much stronger,” Lund says.
He points out produce trucking is still dominated by companies with five trucks or less.
“God bless the owner operators out there. They don’t realize collectively what they do for this country and how important they are,” Lund surmises. “We try to convey that as a company and treat these owner operators with the respect they deserve. They are a critical component in the economic system of the U.S.”
He recently heard someone point out if all access to Los Angeles was cut off, there is only a four-day supply of food available. Lund calls that thought “sobering” and notes people just do not realize what a great transportation system has been built in this country due to all of the small companies working together.
“With the efficient distribution system throughout the U.S., you can pretty much get strawberries anywhere in the U.S. the year around, and this is true with most major commodities,” he says.
ALC Logistics
As for Allen Lund Company, he is particularly excited about a division of the firm, ALC Logistics. He developed the company’s Transportation Management System, building it from the ground up. It is the first one created and provides software solutions ranging from claims management to freight audits, and carrier contracts, among other features.
“It is pretty exciting. We are running about $1.4 billion through the system, working with the companies we have now, and we are just getting started,” Lund says.
As for the trucking industry itself, Lund is very interested in the development of driverless trucks. For example the technology is now available where you can follow someone on I-40 from New Mexico to Arkansas and never touch the steering wheel. He sees this addressing problems associated with hours of service regulations.
“I think we’re only five years or less away from it (driverless trucks),” he notes.
“If you can sell this to the driver by saying you are almost out of hours, then you put it on auto pilot. The driver can then go to sleep while the truck is moving down the road, and have your hours still available when you arrive at destination,” Lund observes. “It makes the single drivers like teams.”
(This is part II of a two-part series. The Allen Lund Company was formed in 1976 by its namesake. I have known Mr. Allen Lund nearly since the founding of the company. His son Kenny Lund joined the company 26 years ago this month. At that time the operation had 32 employees. Today Allen Lund Company has 500 employees, arranges about 250,000 loads a year, of which about 40 percent is with fresh produce. The company has 30 offices nationwide and will soon break the $500 million mark in annual sales. — Bill Martin)
Here is an outlook for stone fruit shipments ranging from Georgia and South Carolina to California and Washington state. Also, are California vegetable shipments getting over the ups and downs caused by shipping gaps from the coastal areas?
Initial Georgia peach shipments from the Fort Valley area got underway the week of May 18th. With the arrival of June, Georgia peaches are now moving in good, steady volume. Shipments should continue most of the summer…..South Carolina peach shipments are on a similar schedule with a little more volume.….Meanwhile, California stone fruit moves into volume beginning in late June and continuing through July….Washington state stone fruit shipments will build in volume in August for peak peach shipments during September.
California vegetable shipments this spring have been anything but good and predictable for produce haulers. Is that about to change? Maybe, but don’t necessarily bet on it.
Hot weather in the early spring with shipments out of the desert areas and then the Huron District of the San Joaquin Valley, vegetables were maturing ahead of schedule. However, with the seasonal shift of California vegetables to the coastal areas, colder than normal weather has put harvest and shipments later than usual. It also has resulted in shipping gaps and lighter than normal volumes in many cases.
Many folks involved in fresh produce transportation are wondering what is going on in California. Despite the state growing and shipping about one-half of the nation’s fruit and vegetables, rates have remained relatively flat during the heaviest volume period of the year.
In search of answers, we turned to Kenny Lund, vice president of operations for the Allen Lund Company of La Canada, CA, a transportation brokerage and logistics company that has been in business nearly 40 years.
“I think we’re in a historic…incredible shift in produce,” Lund states, “where product is being grown where it hasn’t been grown before. It’s hard to get the numbers, but it’s looking like there’s a 20 percent increase in produce from Mexico.”
He also cites production and shipping increases from Canada, as well as boat arrivals with imported produce from around the globe.
“But there is not an increase from the most fertile land in the world (California); there’s a decrease,” Lund contends. “I think the decrease is more significant than people will say.”
While acknowledging the drought has a lot to do with it, Lund sees an attack by environmentalists on the California agricultural industry as being a factor. He points to cuts in water allocations to agriculture and water going elsewhere due to environmental reasons.
He says there has been somewhere between 400,000 and 800,000 acres of California farm land being placed out of production.
“It is political more than anything,” Lund states. “They build pipelines for everything, but for some reason we can’t do it for water. You keep seeing a reduction of water in California and an increase in people (living here). The drought is more political than the actual drought. There is a lack of water going to the farms. The Columbia River going into the ocean is enough in itself to handle California farming needs. But the environmentalists will not let that happen.”
Similar to a statement Lund has made many times about the over regulation of trucking, he says the excessive regulation of farms is “amazing.” For example he recently talked to someone in charge of compliance with a California farming operation and was told she had to answer to 42 different government agencies.
Lund believes this a contributing factor to Allen Lund Company having more produce loads than ever crossing the border from Mexico into California, Arizona and Texas.
“It’s a contradiction. 50 percent of the nation’s produce is grown in California. That is under attack by a lack of water due to over regulation of farming, as well as trucking,” Lund says. “Government is over regulating diesel engines, farming equipment, pumps; all these things are under severe attack.”
Each of these factors are contributing to what he calls a “historic” shift in produce shipments from California. Lund talks of the Autopista Durango-Mazatlan, a 143-mile highway spanning from the growing regions of west Mexico to Texas ports of entry that opened last year. As a result business in McAllen, Tx is booming.
While California produce trucking rates are remaining rather flat, Lund says rates are up significantly in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. At the same time, Florida is “mixed” because it has a very similar growing and shipping season to Mexico with which it competes. Still, he notes Florida does not have nearly as many regulations, plus that state has plenty of water.
(This is Part I of a two-part series. The Allen Lund Company was formed in 1976 by its namesake. I have known Mr. Lund almost since the founding of the company. His son Kenny Lund joined the company 26 years ago this month. At that time the operation had 32 employees. Today Allen Lund Company has 500 employees, arranges about 250,000 loads a year, of which about 40 percent is with fresh produce. The company has 30 offices nationwide and will soon break the $500 million mark in annual sales. — Bill Martin)
Over 100 varieties of fruits and vegetables are grown and shipped from New Jersey, mostly from the Southern part of the state. Here’s a round up of what is being loaded for distribution, as well as what will be available in the weeks and months ahead.
New Jersey Produce Shipments
New Jersey has 11 primary fresh vegetables: Tomatoes, sweet corn, peppers, cabbage, cucumbers, lettuce, spinach, eggplant, escarole, snap beans, and asparagus. Jersey’s top five principal fruits are strawberries, blueberries, peaches, apples and cranberries (for processing).
New Jersey vegetable shipments: The Garden state already has been shipping early season spinach, collards, beets, radishes, escarole/endive, Swiss chard, lettuces and herbs such as parsley, dill, coriander and cilantro. Asparagus loadings got underway in late April. Cabbage, pickles and turnip shipments started at the end of May.
Beginning in June and July
Cucumbers and squash will start in mid-June. While sweet corn and tomatoes have normally started by July 4th, neither may have much volume by then this year, due to colder weather moving back the harvest.
Minor quantities of early New Jersey blueberry shipments should be starting the third week of June, with good volume by the end of June. In 2014, New Jersey produced about 8,800 acres of berries yielding about 56.7 million pounds — fifth in the nation.
July to Mid September Shipments
Yellow New Jersey peach shipments should start the third week of July, with fair volume by early August. Larger volume varieties should begin by the early August. Good yellow peachvolume is expected by mid-August through mid-September. White peach volume begins in the third week of August through mid-September. About 150 peach producers grew 44 million pounds of peaches on 4,600 acres in New Jersey in 2014 — ranking fourth in the nation.
A public warning has been issued by Canadian officials about consumers having found toxic iron cross blister beetles in prepackaged salads. The warning otherwise is very vague, except to say that there haven’t been any confirmed illnesses or injuries.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency issued the warning May 29th, but does not say what country the pre-packaged salads are from or what grower or shipper distributed them. The warning also does not say where the salads were distributed.
“Fresh produce can harbor insects that may be injurious to consumers, but this is rare,” according to the CFIA’s warning.
“The iron cross blister beetle is very distinctively colored, with a bright red head and bright yellow markings on the wings, separated by a black cross. This particular beetle should be treated with caution as it may release an irritating chemical called cantharidin. This chemical may cause blisters at the point of contact.”
The CFIA advises consumers to wash and visually inspect leafy vegetables and remove beetles without touching or crushing them. The warning requests that anyone who finds a beetle to report it to the local CFIA office.
The iron cross blister beetle is generally found in the southwestern U.S. and northwestern Mexico, according to information from the University of California-Davis department of entomology website. Also known as soldier beetles because of their habit of traveling in single-file lines, they are found primarily in late spring and early summer, according to the website, and often occur in immense feeding and mating aggregations.
Here’s an update on Washington state apple shipments, as well as the new crop of Florida avocados, and Mexican mango imports.
While Florida is pretty darned quiet this time of year when it comes to hauling fresh produce, the new crop of avocados has just started being harvested. Volume will gradually increase throughout the month before hitting stride in early July. Shipments will continue into next March, or perhaps early April. About 1 million bushels will be shipped, similar to the 1.17 million bushels hauled last season.
Mango Shipments
This year’s mango volume has seen shipments of more than 4 million boxes weekly; an 18 percent increase compared to the largest week in 2014,
Volumes are expected to remain steady through the second quarter of 2015. Mexican mango imports are expected to be 3 percent higher than 2013, which was a record-breaking year for Mexican mango imports.
The forecast is for about 36 million boxes of mangos to be imported during this year’s second quarter.
Imported Mexican mangos, melons and vegetables through McAllen, Tx – grossing about $3200 to Chicago.
Washington Apple Shipments
Fruit transporters are dumping millions of pounds of apples across Washington, leaving them to rot under hot sun. State officials call the dumps “historic.” In Pateros, a hillside is covered with rows of Red Delicious apples. Trucks pull up several times a day, unloading thousands of apples on top of sage brush and flowers.
Washington growers produced the highest volume of apples on record, plus labor disputes at Washington ports have left cargo sitting, sometimes for weeks. The Washington State Tree Fruit Association estimates $95 million in lost sales due to apples that could not ship. Growers suffered further deficits from longer storage periods.
The Feds recently helped bail out the industry by purchasing millions of dollars of apples for school lunch programs.
Yakima Valley apples – grossing about $7000 to Miami.
Produce loads are increasing in California for stone fruit and tomatoes, while grape shipments are now light volume from the Arvin district.
California peach shipments
California peach and nectarine shipments have moved into normal weekly volumes, with peak loadings to start in late June to early July from the San Joaquin Valley. Peach and nectarine shipments should continue into the first or second week of September. There’s also apricot and cherry shipments.
San Joaquin Valley stone fruit shipments – grossing about $7100 to New York City.
Southern California, Baja Tomatoes
Tomato shipments are ramping up out of California and Baja California and include vine ripes, romas and cherry tomatoes. Loadings should continue until about the third week of December. Shipments of mature-greens, vine-ripes and romas from the Live Oak, CA area in the San Joaquin Valley get underway in mid June.
California grape shipments
While grape shipments continue from the Coachella Valley for perhaps another month, very light volume has started from the Arvin District in the Bakersfield area.
Coachella Valley grape and vegetable shipments – grossing about $4600 to Chicago.
Chilean Fruit Imports
A strike by customs officials, which shut down Chile’s Port of Valparaiso May 20, has ended as negotiators reached an agreement. By May 26, customs officials had been removed from the port, and the port was operating again at a “minimal level. The strike ended May 28th. Workers were striking over pay and working conditions.
Here comes the Roadcheck, the annual inspection blitz. It is a joint effort of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and others, is set to take place starting tomorrow June 2nd and continuing through June 4th.
About 10,000 inspectors from state, local and federal enforcement agencies will perform nearly 70,000 inspections on trucks and buses over the 72-hour period. They will be stationed at 1,500 inspection points around North America.
Cargo securement will be this year’s special emphasis, though inspectors will still be primarily performing the full 37-step Level I inspections — the most thorough inspection — throughout the week.
In early June of 2014, the Roadcheck resulted in a vehicle out-of-service rate of 18.7 percent and a driver out-of-service rate of 4.8 percent. Also last year over 72,000 drivers and vehicles were inspected.
CVSA has on its site resources for owner operators and fleet drivers. Here are 9 top things inspectors look for: brakes, coupling devices, lighting, securement of cargo, steering, suspension, plus tires, wheels, rims and hubs.
Both South Carolina and North Carolina are expecting normal shipments of vegetables this summer, despite a a cold and wet spring that delayed plantings on some vegetables. Tropical Storm Ana, which made landfall in South Carolina on May 10, drenched fields in both states and further delayed production of some vegetables.
South Carolina Produce Shipments
Up coming shipments on sweet corn, cabbage, squash, greens, cilantro, parsley, beets, leeks and eggplant look favorable. South Carolina squash loadings started in mid-May, while sweet corn shipments should start next week.
WP Rawl, Pelion, S.C., and Clayton Rawl Farms in Lexington, S.C. are two of the state’s largest vegetable shippers.
South Carolina peach shipments continue, while watermelons will be coming on the latter part of June.
North Carolina Produce Shipments
Cabbage shipments will not get underway until the latter part of June, or early July a week or more later than normal.
Cabbage loadings typically have a gap between the start of coastal production near Elizabeth City, N.C., and the mountain region production near Mount Airy, N.C.. However, this season both shipping areas are expected to start at about the same time. One of the state’s largest cabbage shippers is Hollar & Greene Produce Co. Inc. in Boone, N.C.
North Carolina usually begins sweet corn shipments a week later than Georgia. North Carolina expects to start loading about June 1st….Squash shipments have just started, while potatoes should get underway around June 15-20. Potato acreage remains at 17,000 acres and the state plans to ship red, white and yellow potatoes through late July.
Eastern North Carolinas continues to ship sweet potatoes entering the last couple of months of the season.
North Carolina sweet potatoes – grossing about $2500 to New York City.
Attitudes towards health and wellness as well as meal preparation are among the biggest evolving trends in U.S. consumers’ eating habits, according to new research from Acosta Sales & Marketing.
Nine out of 10 shoppers prefer eating at home, driven by a desire for comfort (61 percent), cost (60 percent) and convenience (59 percent), the firm’s The Evolution of Eating survey revealed.
However, more Americans are turning to ready-to-eat and take-and-bake solutions, including “hybrid homemade meals,” such as a grocery store rotisserie chicken with a salad-in-a-bag and homemade potatoes, rather than cooking from scratch.
About 46 percent said they prepared meals at home over the past year, 48 percent when considering only the Millennial generation, who also reported eating prepared foods from grocery stores at home at a much higher rate than total U.S. diners (27 percent vs. 16 percent, respectively). Millennials also reported enjoying cooking the most compared with their older counterparts.
“The way our society views food has come a long way since the TV dinner heyday of the 1950s. From sharing recipes and photos of food on social media to a widespread fixation on healthy food and fads, we have seen a seismic shift in consumers’ attitudes toward food,” said Colin Stewart, senior vice president, Acosta. “Eating has evolved right along with society, and consumer brands and retailers must consider the dynamics, demands and preferences of today’s modern family to deliver successful food and meal solutions.”
Acosta finds that consumers are becoming even more educated about the connection between diet and wellness, and are taking efforts to transform their shopping and eating behaviors, as America’s health trend shows no signs of slowing down.
In fact, the majority of shoppers (61 percent) ranked reading food labels as very important to their health and wellness concerns when they grocery shop, and more than half reported trying to eat more fruits and vegetables in the past year. And shoppers across all segments reported eating more whole grains and buying foods with fewer preservatives.
The Evolution of Eating report was compiled using research conducted by Acosta, as well as the company’s experience working with the nation’s largest CPG manufacturers and retailers.