Posts Tagged “feature”
Port Everglades has begun construction of an intermodal rail facility , which handles almost half of the fresh produce entering Florida by ship. Crews from Jacksonville-based Florida East Coast Railway are installing tracks and crane pads for the intermodal container transfer facility at the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., port.
The $73 million, 43-acre rail operation is scheduled to open this summer and will be used to transfer domestic and international shipping containers between ship and rail. The operation, at the Southport container cargo area, replaces a 12-acre intermodal yard that is several miles from the port. The road leading to the facility is being paved and workers are constructing buildings.
The facility will allow the railroad to assemble 9,000-foot unit trains without blocking city streets. When finished, cargo can move through the port to and from Atlanta and Charlotte, N.C., in two days and to Nashville, TN, and Memphis, in three days.
The railroad’s connections to CSX and Norfolk Southern railroads should also allow rail service to 70 percent of the U.S. population within four days. At this point it isn’t known how much produce will go through the port.
During fiscal year 2013, the port handled 928,000 TEU (20-foot equivalent units). Of those, refrigerated cargos accounted for 134,597 TEUS or 15 percent of volume, with imports constituting 75 percent of refrigerated container movement.
By Columbia Marketing International
Supermarket sales data released by Nielsen Perishables Group reveals continued strong apple sales over the December holiday period. A three year analysis of apple performance by CMI shows retail volume continues to grow, led by newer varieties. During the month of December, apple category volume at retail increased by 3.2% over 2012 but is up 9.5% over 2011.
“It’s very encouraging to see near double digit volume growth in December compared to the same period just two years ago,” said Steve Lutz, Vice President of Marketing for CMI. “The numbers validate that consumers are buying more apples overall while embracing new varieties.”
The Nielsen Perishables Group data for December 2013 shows the Fuji, Cripps Pink/Pink Lady®, Ambrosia™ and Granny Smith varieties all increased in volume by more than 20%. Honeycrisp and Rome volume in December 2013 vs. 2011 increased by 18.3% and 17.4% respectively.
“The December data really reveals how consumer preferences are shifting while growing the category in the process,” said Lutz. “Over two years, Honeycrisp volume is up by over 17% despite an average retail price of $2.40 per pound. Ambrosia™ volume is up by 24% with an average retail price that is 20% higher than the average for the total apple category. Volume growth at these levels combined with higher retail prices is only sustainable if consumers like what they’re buying and come back for more.”
Lutz said that despite the strong category volume gains, the report shows it’s not all good news. Golden Delicious, Braeburn, Jonagold and Cameo® all lost significant market share over the two year holiday period. Lutz noted that Cameo® volume dropped by 43% while Braeburn lost 28%.
The analysis also indicates how supermarket distribution practices are impacting store-level volume. Impressions per store per week (a measure of the unique items in each store each week) increased by 8.1% for the category as more apple varieties and items were stocked on retail shelves.
“It’s pretty clear that over the past two years, retailers encouraged consumers to discover these new varieties by putting more items on more shelves more often, said Lutz. “Ambrosia impressions jumped by 48% while Cripps Pink/Pink Lady® and Honeycrisp both increased by over 16%.”
Not all apple varieties secured incremental retail impressions. McIntosh, Braeburn, Romes and Cameo® varieties all suffered declines in retail impressions. “This clearly shows that there is a finite amount of space available for apples,” said Lutz. “Romes volume was bailed out by a substantial drop in an already low retail price, but those other varieties were hit hard by the loss of retail shelf support.”
Greenhouse growing of vegetables continues to increase whether it is in Mexico, the U.S., or in this case Ontario. It’s popularity is rising, not only because weather conditions can be controlled, but the product itself is ususally better tasting, especially with something like tomatoes. Ontario does have loading opportunities for produce haulers, although we are not normally talking in truck load quantities.
Most of the Ontario greenhouse vegetables are located along the northern shores of Lake Erie, including the towns of Leamington and Kingsville. The reason is this area receives more sunshine than anywhere else in Canada.
The leading green house vegetables are tomatoes, English cucumbers and peppers. This year it is estimated Ontario will ship 448 million pounds of tomatoes, an increase of nearly 18 percent over last year. There should be 250 million pounds of English cucumbers (nearly 23 percent more) and 170 million pounds of peppers, up nearly 31 percent.
There also is much smaller volume with eggplant and specialty peppers and specialty tomatoes.
About 70 percent of the Ontario greenhouse veggies are shipped to the U.S.
While the cukes, peppers, and egglant are compatible for loading together in a truck, the tomatoes are not a good fit. That’s too bad since volume wise at any one time, greenhouse tonnage is relatively low, even though it continues to increase.
If you ever want to check out what fruits and veggies are good for putting on the same truck, check out the Fresh Produce Mixer & Loading Guide from TransFRESH Corp. These are the same folks that provide the Tectrol atmosphere that adds shelf life to strawberries and other products, which helps to maintain quality.
To check this info out, just click on the TransFresh ad on this website.
There’s been plenty of cold weather in Florida this winter, but the bottom line is it has mostly dodged the wrap of Mother Nature and any wide spread deadly freezes (knock on wood). But the cold has often meant Florida produce shipments being lighter than normal and later than normal for this time of the year.
Heaviest volume out of Florida is from the central and southern regions with tomatoes, which are averaging around 750 truck loads per week. There’s also a number of mixed vegetable items being shipped in light volume, but are behind normal shipping schedules.
An example is cabbage, which is available in areas from northern to southern Florida. The further north in the state cabbage is grown and shipped, the further behind it is in maturing and being harvested. One example is at Bunnell in nothern Florida where loadings are running a full month behind schedule. About four hours to the south in Central Florida the product is only a couple of weeks late. Cabbage is a big item for St. Patrick’s Day, which is March 17th.
Florida grapefruit shipments are down siginificantly this year, but more so from a disease called citrus greening than due to the weather. One major shipper is reporting pack out at only 50 to 60 percent of normal, when it would normally pack out at about 90 pecent.
Another item trailing is Florida strawberry shipments from the Plant City area.
Central Florida produce items – grossing about $2300 to Chicago.
California strawberry shipments are head of this time last year, while Washington state pear loadings are on a record setting course.
California strawberry shipments
Unlike much of the country, it has been an exceptionally mild winter thus far in California (unless you’re a California citrus grower). Temperatures into the mid-80s along the coast have brought on good strawberry shipments in the region. As of February 1, about 4.6 million cases of strawberries had been shipped, compared with 3 million cases at the same time in 2013. The 1.2 million trays shipped the week ending Feb. 1 was well above the 805,000-tray projection. Most of the berries are coming out of Ventura and Orange counties, and shipments are aided by the fact fewer strawberries have been loaded from Florida and Mexico due to cold weather.
There’s also decent strawberries volume coming out of the Baja California pennisula, where it is consolidated at warehouses in the San Diego area. The Baja California and Oxnard growing areas have similar climatic conditions.
Southern California berries – grossing about $4200 to Chicago.
Apple Shipments, Pear Shipments
While apples dominate Northwest fruit shipments, as of January 31st there has been a record number of pears had loaded out of the Pacific Northwest, mostly from Washington state’s Yakima and Wenachee valleys. We are talking around 14.2 million boxes of pears from Washington and Oregon.
There were over 1.3 million boxes shipped the first two weeks of January and 1.4 million boxes in the last two weeks. That compares to 1.2 million boxes in each of those two-week periods at the same time last year. The Northwest is on track to ship a record 22.2 million boxes of pears this year, 14 percent more than last season.
One important note is that both apples and pears ship well together in the same load.
Washington state apples and pears – grossing about $6500 to New York City.
By Larry Oscar
With the recent decline in the
United States as a world and economic power, it should be no surprise that many of our citizens are turning to weird philosophies and religions for guidance in their lives. So it isn’t too surprising when we have a lot of interest in science these days. And that is a good thing. Science makes people think, and that is something a lot of people don’t do very often today.
Instead they let someone else or some group do the thinking for them. I was discussing this over lunch one day with some friends when it dawned on us that most of the problems people seem to have coping with life are a result of letting someone else do your thinking. This behavior results in low self esteem. After all, when you are letting others do your thinking, then you have no sense of accomplishment; mainly because anything you achieve in life is a result of following some else’s advise and not your own idea.
You do however, get to blame everyone else for your problems because the mess you find yourself in is a result of taking someone else’s advise. The only problem with this is you will find yourself in hopeless situations. You can’t get out of it because the very people telling you what to do are the ones who got you in the mess in the first place.
No wonder so many young people want to commit suicide and take the people they blame for their misery with them. Science doesn’t have all the answers either, and the one thing that science has proven is …. “The more we know, the more we know we don’t know.” Sort of like a dog chasing his tail. We do have some bright spots in science now and then.
One recent bright spot has been the Large Hadron Collider built by Cern from 1998-2008. It is located on the Swiss/France border just outside Geneva, Switzerland. It is the largest particle collider ever built, and it was built by people who definitely think for themselves. This is the biggest leap into scientific discovery that the human race has ever done.
The LHC can accelerate protons to just slightly less than 10 miles per hour of the speed of light. That’s 186,000 miles/second. At those energy levels the protons collide and break apart into the fundamental particles that make up everything in the universe. That includes you and me. The LHC has already discovered what is believed to be the particle that is responsible for gravity, the “God Particle” or Higgs boson. By understanding what all matter is made of we can
This is done to have a better understanding of our universe and what makes time and space exist. Space-Time, as we know it, is rather strange. In 1929 Edwin Hubble observed that the universe was expanding at an ever increasing rate. This was contrary to what Einstein had postulated, and Hubble’s observations have since been confirmed. The universe is indeed expanding, and space is expanding. Something we don’t understand.
The expansion of space and space-time is a very big deal. After discussing this with a friend, over some beers of course, it was pointed out that this increase in the expansion of space-time could be the reason for the increase in the size of the average American today. Come to think of it, it may just be that the expansion of space-time has caused the increase in the obesity of many Americans. It may not be the huge consumption of food substances after all. It may be the expansion of space that is causing the increase in the size of the average American.
In fact, we may have a non-linear space time expansion. That would account for the fact that some are getting bigger while others stay the same size. Now see what thinking for yourself accomplishes. Will someone please tell New York’s Michael Bloomberg, quick, before he tries to outlaw hot dogs or Big Macs?
Larry Oscar is a graduate from the University of Tulsa and holds a degree in electrical engineering. He is retired and lives with his wife on a lake in Oklahoma where he brews his own beer, sails, and is a member of numerous clubs and organizations.
Consumers’ favorite apple varieties may be changing according to newly released supermarket performance data for November.
Steve Lutz, Vice President of Marketing for CMI, reports shoppers are increasingly seeking out apples believed to be high in flavor.
A report by Nielsen Perishables Group shows that older varieties like Red and Golden Delicious are losing ground, while new varieties like Gala and Honeycrisp are showing growth. Apple volume in supermarkets increased by 2.5 percent, apple retail prices fell by 6.5 percent, and the gains in volume were said to be supported by these falling prices. Gala was the largest volume apple in U.S. supermarkets, and has increased by 3 percent over the same period last year. Honeycrisp rankead second in volume, jumping by 14 percent.
Lutz reports more consumers are selecting newer variety apples like Gala, Honeycrisp and Fuji at the expense of some traditional favorites. Pink Lady volume jumped by 44 percent, while Ambrosia volume increased by 22 percent, despite supermarket shelf prices substantially higher than the average price for all apples.
Lutz stated, “Increasingly, for retailers success hinges not only on knowing which apple varieties to put on the shelf, but also knowing which apples to emphasize in merchandising and which varieties should be dropped.”
Americans are nearly twice as likely to buy blueberries now as nine years ago, Hebert Research found in its recent survey of 3,765 primary household shoppers.
“We do these surveys every five years to make sure we’re moving the needle, and this one shows an excellent return on our investment,” said John Shelford, a member of the council’s promotion committee. “We went from 39 percent awareness of health benefits in 2004 to 84 percent today, more than doubling awareness in 10 years. That’s remarkable.”
As in 2008, the typical blueberry consumer in 2013 was upscale, well educated and white — but more likely to be from a minority. Consumers, primarily ages 46 to 65 in 2008, have grown more likely to be 35 to 44.
“We really have been focusing our efforts on developing the future generation,” Shelford said. “In terms of market channel, fresh has a preference with customers. We work hard to bring fresh to them, but it’s challenging given the labor situation. The industry has a number of ready-to-eat providers today thanks to new sorting methods, so the consumer can have that fruit before it’s frozen.”
Shoppers are now likely to buy blueberries based solely on health benefits, the survey found.
Asked what they like most about the fruit, consumers cited health (84%), taste (81%), convenience (61%) and versatility (44%), among other attributes.
Nutritional benefits were widely acknowledged. For example,, 99 % believe blueberries are a healthy food.
If you’ve noticed fewer loading opportunities for Chilean fruit arriving by boat at U.S. ports on both coasts, you’re correct. However, less product has been coming mostly because of growing conditions in South America, not from a union port strike in Chile that has been on and off, but apparently is over, at least for now.
For exmple, Chilean blueberry exports are at 22,516 tons, compared to 34,000 tons the same time last year. However, blueberry exports are support to be increasing now.
Chile exported 8,356 tons of cherries this this season compared to 7,998 last year. Plum exports are unchanged from a year ago.
Stone fruits were hit harder by Chilean weather and the country has exported 2,252 tons of peaches compared to 6,425 tons last year. Nectarines are off 5,411 tons from a year ago compared to 2,828 tons this year. Apricots have also been down at 232 tons compared to 822 during the same period last year.
Last September several frosts hit Chile, with stone fruit and kiwifruit being hit the hardest. In mid-January, estimated losses 64 percent for Chilean peaches, 59 percent for nectarines and 63 percent for plums. Chilean kiwifruit losses were pegged at 60 percent.
Chilean grapes lead volume of that country fruit arrivals to America. Arrivals at ports is now peaking, but will taper off early than normal – probably March – due to later varieties being hit hardest by a freeze last September.
Over the past 25 years Chile has become a major player in global markets, in large part because its seasons are opposite that of the U.S. and a number of other countries. This allows it export to the U.S. for example, when many American produce items are out of season.
There’s big volume with Northwest produce shipments ranging from apples and pears, to potatoes and onions, providing a lot of loading opportunities.
Washington state each year ships about as many apples as all the other apple shipping states combined. And this is one of the state’s biggest volume crops. While pear volume is substantiably lower, it is still a good sized items. Both apples and pear shipments are originating out the Yakima and Wenachee valleys.
Washington state’s Columbia Basin along with the adjacent Umatilla Basin in nearby Oregon are moving good volumes of both potatoes and onions. Between these two areas, approximately 1,000 truck load equivalents are being shipped weekly.
Nobody grows and ships as many potatoes as Idaho – not even close. These guys are loading on average about 1,750 truck load equivalents each week.
With “hardware” items like these that are so promonient in the Northwest states, it makes for attractive hauls by the railroads, so you do have more competition from the rails here than from most areas. The rails also often offer a freight rates averaging around 10 to 15 percent less than trucks. But at the end of the day, trucks are still hauling over 95 percent of the nation’s fresh fruits and vegetables, although it’s a little less in places like Washington state and Idaho.