Posts Tagged “Hunts Point”
HUNTS POINT WHOLESALE TERMINAL MARKET FACTS:
* Located on 113 acres in the South Bronx . Hunts Point is owned by New York City.
* Four primary rows with each being one-third of a mile long.
* 1 million square feet of interior space.
* Opened in 1967.
*Has operated as a co-op for about 20 years.
*Has elected board of directors representing about 50 produce companies on the market.
*Hunts Point employees over 3,500 workers.
*Hunts Point serves about 23 million people, mostly in the Northeast with produce from across the nation and from around the world .
*Hunts Point is the largest food distribution center in the world and also includes the Fulton Fish Market. Revenues exceed $2 billion a year.
*Negotiations between the market and NYC over the past 10 years to build a new facility have failed. Produce wholesalers cite needs for more and better cold storage. Rebuilding, renovation, and moving the market to New Jesery are often topics of discussion.
*Unloading delays are commong at Hunts Point in part due to lack of cold storage. Refrigerated trailers are often used as storage facilities. Truckers receive no detention for delayed unloading.
*Hunts Point receives $172.5 million in cash and tax breaks from New York City.
*Hunts Point leaders are in a “fight” with the NYC’s Business Integrity Commission, an agency created to root out organized crime in the carting industry. The commission has overstepped its authority and is interfering with business by setting operating hours and hitting delivery and storage trucks with parking tickets, produce house operators say. They feel the commission has over stepped its authority and its mission should only deal with organized crime.
Over the years is seems there have been fewer problems with unfair claims and rejected loads at Ontario compared to Montreal.
The Ontario Food Terminal averages buying and selling about a 1 million tons of produce and horticultural products a year, which equates to an average of 5.4 million pounds of fruits, produce and horticultural products distributed daily.
Based in Toronto, it is the fourth largest wholesale produce distribution center in North America behind New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.
The heaviest truck traffic at the terminal takes place on Sunday is the busiest receiving day for the terminal. However, it is a small operation compared to Hunts Point Terminal Market in New York, with Ontario having roughly 600-850 pallets and an average of 25 tractor-trailer loads in a 12-hour period.
The terminal has 21 warehouse tenants, 5,000 registered buyers and the farmers market area includes 550 stalls. The registered buyers are able to buy fruits and vegetables and floral products on a wholesale basis. These buyers then sell their goods to independent and chain supermarkets, convenience stores, restaurants, foodservice institutions among others.
Terminal wholesalers distribute product by truck throughout Ontario and as far east as the Maritime Provinces. Ontario products also are shipped to the USA from the “U” shaped terminal tha has 21 market wholesale houses.
Since 1954, the Ontario Food Terminal has been located in the Toronto district of Etobicoke. There is approximately 100,000 square feet of storage available in the coolers. Some of the new portions of the building have racking systems available in the cold-storage rooms.
The 40 acre Toronto site is located at 165 the Queensway between Park Lawn Road and Stephen Drive in South Etobicoke. If you are driving from the east, take the South Kingsway exit from the Westbound Gardiner Expressway to the Westbound Queensway.
If you are driving from the West, take the Eastbound Q.E.W. to the Park Lawn Road Exit and proceed North to the Queensway.
Hours of operation:
Mondays to Fridays:
4:00 am to 2:00 pm
Sundays:
6:00 am to 11:00 am
The terminal’s website does not address the issues of unloading hours for truckers, or if there are gate fees, or unloading charges.
The on-again, off-again exclusive lease negotiations between the city and the Hunts Point Terminal Produce Market have been extended for the third time, this time through October 31st, according to a recent article on Crain’s New York Business.com.
Hunts Point is the world’s largest wholesale terminal market. Located in New York City’s, South Bronx, it is a cooperative with 115 merchants. Thousands of refrigerated big rigs deliver loads of fresh fruits and vegetables to the market each week from across the USA, as well as from Canada and Mexico.
The extended negotiations are between the Economic Develpment Corp. and the Hunts Point co-op. Hunts Point officials have been threatening to move the humongus facilty to New Jersey for years.
The incentive is a public hearing the merchants requested of city council members to discuss the city’s Business Integrity Commission, which has regulatory authority over the market. The hearing is set for Oct. 23.
Last June the federal government offered $10 million to help modernize Hunts Point. The market, which opened in 1967, faces many challenges ane the one state-of-the-art terminal is now showing its age.
Buildings are in need of renovation and a shortage of cold storage has many companies storing fresh produce in trailers parked in front and/or in back of their units. Loading docks are not refrigerated.
There are complaints trucker access into and out of the market is poor and that roads are in disrepair or just cannot handle the heavy traffic.
Everyone agrees on one thing: something has to be done. Numerous negotiations, talks, meetings, task forces and committees over the years failed to come to a solution. Politics. governments and red tape all contributed to a slow moving process.
New Jersey has aggressively made bids to move Hunts Point to the Garden State. However, the Hunts Point co-op continues negotiating with New York City on rebuilding the facility at its current location. In reality, most Hunts Point tenants prefer remain right where they are.
The current 10-year lease on the market expired in May 2011, and on June 19, 2012, the federal government offered $10 million to help modernize the large market, but first the market’s merchants and the city must agree to a new lease.
The merchants in reality have little use for New York City’s Business Integrity Commission stating the agency is assessing needless fees and penalties for various infractions, including parking violations within the market. The situation reached an impasse in late August when the merchants decided not to renew their exclusivity agreement to negotiate a new lease with the city, citing their differences with the commission as the reason.
But don’t hold your breath, it will probably be a cold day in hell before Hunts Point uproots to New Jersey, or anyplace else.
Looking across the USA, there will be a lot of loading opportunities for apples, 
particularly in the west, although fewer than a several months ago before weather factors hit some orchards.
In the East, there actually should be a few more loads available for the 2012-13 season from both Pennsylvania and Virginia. No word on the New England states, but volume from there is relatively light even in good years.
New York state, particularly the central and western shipping areas took a significant hit from freezing weather earlier in the year. The Hudson Valley apparently escaped pretty much unscathed. Overall, New York state apple shipments will be down around 50 percent, estimated to be about 590 million pounds. Before the freeze, the state was looking at about 1.2 billion pounds of apples.
Poor ole Michigan took the biggest hit from freezing temperatures this year. At one time is was looking to ship 985 million pounds. Apple tonnage now is forecast at only 105 million pounds.
Washington state, which on any given year shipments about as many apples as the rest of the other states combined, also lost tonnage a few weeks ago from hail storms. However, it was on course to have record shipments. Even though that will not now happen, it still will be loading as much fruit on average, as it has over the past five seasons.
Washington’s Yakima and Wenatchee Valley apples – grossing about $5300 to New York City and Hunts Point.
California apple and pear shipments have started, joining bell peppers and host of other veggies, stone fruits and grapes being 
shipped. Across the country, summer produce shipments also are moving in good volume as well, although few can match the volume coming from California.
California apples for the new shipping season are under way from the San Joaquin Valley, while the new pear crop is providing loads from the San Joaquin Valley as well as the Sacramento District. Both items join a host of San Joaquin Valley produce items ranging from peaches, plums and nectarines to veggies such as sweet corn, and bell peppers, among others, as well as table grapes and melons.
Looking ahead to fall citrus shipments, California volume is forecast to be pretty normal. Mandarin loadings get underway by mid October, while navel oranges should start shipping in Novemember and continue through May 2013. The 2011-12 navel crop amounted to 88 million 40-pound cartons being shipped. The Valencia orange loadings are winding down and about 28 million cartons will have been shipped by the end of the season.
Michigan
Michigan is a leading shipper of blueberries, which are moving in good, steady volume. There’s also a wide array of vegetables such as sweet corn, bell peppers and squash being loaded on trucks.
New York
Cabbage loads are now coming out of Western and Central New York. Other vegetables will soon be available for hauling.
Eastern Shore
The tri-state area of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia have had a good growing season and steady shipments of vegetables and melons are now occurring.
Eastern Shore produce is grossing – about $1700 to Chicago.
Michigan produce – about $2700 New York and Hunts Point.
California’s San Joaquin Valley produce – about $7500 to New York City.
Golf ball sized hail hit some Wenachee Valley apple orchards July 20 causing 
severe damage, while other orchards escaped, or received only minor damage. The bottom line for apple haulers is what was expected to be bumper apple shipments for the 2012-13 season will be reduced. It is a matter of how much. This really won’t be known for several weeks.
Also keep in mind when you are loading new season apples from this area, some fruit could have minor “dings” and other damage. Just make sure appropriate parties with whom you are working that are associated with the haul are aware of it.
Hail storms often are pretty localized, so hopefully the overall damage won’t severely affect shipments for the new season. Washingon state has a huge apple crop, and loadings are expected to be brisk because of significant weather damage to Michigan and Ontario apples, and to a lesser extent some orchards in New York state….Meanwhile apples from the old crop continue to be shipped.
Washington state apples – grossing about $6000 to New York City and Hunts Point.
Most fruit and vegetable rates are paying significantly more than rates on 
potatoes and onions right now, but the difference in rates will be shrinking in the next several weeks as overall fruit and veggie volume seasonally declines and the spud and onion volume rises with the new crops.
There is over 1 million acres of potatoes planted in the USA for the crop that is now being harvested. That is 46,000 more acres than at this time a year ago! Translation: There’s a huge crop that will need to be transported to market – and the railroads can only haul a relatively small amount of it. That means plenty of hauling opportunties this fall, winter and next spring for truckers with refrigerated equipment.
The top nine states with the most potatoes in order of size are: Idaho, Washington, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Maine, Colorado, Minnesota, Michigan and Oregon.
Idaho, the USA’s biggest potato producer, will have a lot more potatoes for hauling this season.
Potato shipments from Washington and Oregon get underway in early August, with volume expected to be normal and about the same as a year ago. Washington has about 25,000 acres of spuds for the fresh market. The Umatilla-Hermiston potato volume may be down a little from last season. No big deal though.
In central Wisconsin, red, white, yellow and russet potato diggings have been underway and shipments begin when the old crop is all sold, or customers begin demanding fresh potatoes from the new season, over the old ones which have been in storages forever. The spuds becoming available will be more abundant than on average from the past five years.
Onions
Helping Western onion shipments was the early demise of the Vidalia, GA onion season. It has created bigger demand for onions in the West and demand for trucks from places such as Bakersfield, CA and from Southern New Mexico and the Pasco area of Washington state. Also, imported onions from Peru will begin arriving at USA ports in early August.
Idaho potatoes are grossing – about $4800 to New York City’s Hunts Point.
The Salinas and San Joaquin Valleys continue to provide your best loading 
opportunities in California.
Head lettuce may be producing the biggest volume from Salinas and is averaging around 1700 to 1800 truckload equivalents a week. However, there remains significant tonnage coming with other types of lettuce, as well broccoli, cauliflower, celery and many other items….The nearby Watsonville area is shipping a lot of strawberries….
The relentless heat baking much of the USA this summer makes it paramount you take precautions to protect your load (check out the TransFresh ad on this website that provides “in-transit warming” information).
The Santa Maria district has much lighter volume than Salinas, but it also is shipping many of the same vegetables.
The San Joaquin Valley has both fruits and vegetable loadings occurring from many areas. In the central valley around 500 to 600 truckload equivalents of mature green tomatoes are being shipped each week….Table grape loadings continue on pace to what could be record shipments this year, with heaviest volume currently coming from the Arvin and Delano areas.
Shipments from the California desert of cantaloupe (and some other items) has mercifully come to an end as some product was looking pretty rough at the end of the season.
California supplies for refrigerated equipment generally remain adequate, but you shouldn’t face signficant delays for loads in most cases because of the seasonal volume.
Salinas vegetables are grossing – about $7700 to Hunts Point in New York City.
San Joaquin Valley fruits and vegetables – about $5000 to Chicago.
New Yorkers could be forking over more green for their summer fruits and 
salads — as record-breaking heat waves and droughts shrivel crops across the nation, sending prices soaring.
Dozens of field-picked vegetables and fruits got baked out of business in the past three weeks, causing overnight shortages at Hunts Point in The Bronx, the world’s largest produce marketplace.
Fresh-picked cucumbers, for example, have soared 57 percent at the wholesale level since the start of July.
Boston lettuce has skyrocketed 80 percent, while blueberries are up 69 percent.
“Wholesale prices for certain field crops are becoming a lot higher than expected,” said Terry Long, an analyst at the US Department of Agriculture.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: New York Post
By Paul Tharp
New York ranks among the top five states in shipments of fresh fruits and 
vegetables. Produce shippers are located in many different regions of the state. Since New York is over 300 miles wide from East to West this covers a lot of territory. We’ll be covering apples soon, but right now we’ll focus on vegetable shipments, which are underway.
For example items are available for hauling such as cabbage, beans, squash, cucumbers and potatoes from shippers in the Rochester, as well as Buffalo, NY areas. Such operations are located near small agriculture communities such as Elba located just west of Rochester, as well as Marion just east of Rochester, and Eden found south of Buffalo.
Cabbage is a big item near the towns of Holley and Stanley, NY.
Orange County New York has a number of large onion shippers. Shipments are expected to get underway around the third week of August.
A primary destination for New York produce shipments, of course, is the Hunts Point Terminal Wholesale Market in New York City, although loads are also destined to a number of other major cities ranging from Boston to Philadelphia and Atlanta, among others.