Posts Tagged “New York”
Produce shipments from the Western half of the USA offer perishable haulers 
some obvious and not-so-obvious choices for obtaining loads.
Here’s some places you may not have considered. New crops of potatoes are now available in some upper mid-western states. The Big Lake, MN area is shipping both red potatoes and russets. New crops of spuds have recently got underway from Central Wisconsin, Nebraska and Northern Colorado.
In Idaho and Malheur County, OR., loading opportunities have recently become available with a new crop of storage onions. While the area is known for its onions, a few shippers are starting to offer sweet onions. Just be aware that these shippers are new at this game and still may be on a learning curve relating to quality. Sweet onions often do not store well.
In California, the heaviest volume from the Salinas Valley is with head lettuce, averaging about 1,100 truck load equivalents per week. Many other vegetable items are also being shipped…..In the nearby Watsonville District, about 750 truckload equivalents of strawberriers are being loaded weekly.
Plenty of loading opportunities are coming from the San Joaquin Valley of California with stone fruit, veggies and grapes. Heaviest table grape movement is from the southern valley area known as the Kern District, but volume is rapidly increasing from more northern areas of the valley.
An update on apple shipments from Washington state, shows it will account for 77 percent of the nation’as apple shipments during the 2012-13 shipping season. Washington always leads the nation in this category, but with heavy weather related losses to apples in Michigan and New York state, the northwest will provide an even more than normal percentage of the country’s apple loads. Washington expects to ship its second largest amount of apples in history; and this is despite a 10 to 15 percent crop loss due to hail storms earlier this year.
Salinas Valley produce – grossing about $7500 to New York City.
Big Lake MN potatoes – about $1300 to Chicago.
Central Wisconsin potatoes – about $2500 to Atlanta.
Late summer shipments of fresh fruits and vegetables continue in steady 
volume from around the country.
In New York state, onions have started from Orange County, while cabbage is coming from several areas in both the central and western parts of the state.
Michigan shippers continue to load a variety of vegetables, led by cucumbers and squash, particularly from the western half of the state.
It is a relatively short shipping season for red potatoes from the Big Lake, MN area. Those loadings will soon be giving away to the Red River Valley, which should move into volume shipments after Labor Day.
In California, stone fruit, grape and vegetables loads remain steady for the most part. A similar situation exits for vegetables from the Salinas Valley.
Tabulations for the outlook of national apple shipments have been issued at a recent outlook and marketing conference. The forecast predicts the smallest apple crop since 1986. This would amount to 192 million bushels, ranking it as the 31st biggest crop that will be shipped.
While the forecasts for the East and Midwest regions declined this year, the forecast for the West increased by 6 percent. And although some of its crop was damaged by hail, Washington state is still forecast to produce 135.7 million bushels, 5 percent above its 2011 production.
Washington state apples and pears – grossing about $5600 to New York City.
Michigan vegetables – about $900 to Chicago.
San Joaquin Valley produce – about $6000 to Atlanta.
More and more often you here the phrase “you just can’t make this stuff up.” 
Funny, most of the time it’s in regard to something from Washington. Just when you think the world can’t get any more crazy…… it invariably does. It seems like the entire world has lost all common sense and irrational behavior is now the new norm.
Lliving in Oklahoma, and having my ancestry go back to before the 1889 Oklahoma Land Run, it is easy to see why we think very differently than much of the rest of the nation. Oklahoma Territory was settled by a diverse set of fiercely independent people. They range from native American tribes, outlaws, oil barons, farmers, coal miners, cattle ranchers, and even bootleggers. The makeup of our state is not a socially unified group of people.
If you walk up to a native Oklahoman and tell him “we are all in this together,” you will more often than not get a frown, and a reply that lets you know that they will be the judge of who and whom they are “in this together with” and not you.
We are individuals in Oklahoma, and not members of some group of human lemmings like they are in other states. If you have moved here from the “Left Coast” or “Taxachusetts,” you will quickly learn that we don’t appreciate socialists. In fact, you may get invited to return from whence you came!
There is such a thing as “Oklahoma Values” and most Oklahomans will take up arms to defend them, including me. Here are some of our Oklahoma values:
1. You must stand on your own two feet! Nobody “owes” you anything. Your success in life depends on your decisions and your behavior. It’s nobody’s fault but your own. Got that “Oblama!”
2. We “give”…We don’t “give back”! As Oklahomans we have worked hard to get where we are in life. When you “libtards” ask us to “give back” you are marginalizing our accomplishments in life. We didn’t get where we are by being “lucky” or “fortunate.” The vast majority of Oklahomans got where we are by hard work and being willing to take a business risk. If you want us to donate our time and money you better just ask us to “give.” Don’t insult our individual accomplishments by asking us to “give back.”
3. Never blame your parents! Your parents only have you for about 18 years. And by the time you reach 13, you won’t listen to anything they have to say anyway, so take responsibility for your own life and your own actions. You won’t find 40-year-old Oklahomans blaming their parents.
4. We shoot guns! Oklahoma is a land of the outdoors. We fish, hunt, camp out, hike, and we love things that explode and make noise. If you come from a part of the country where you have never been exposed to firearms, don’t bring your anti-gun mentality to Oklahoma. We are proud of our western heritage and WE SHOOT GUNS!
5. No whining! Oklahomans are not whiners. Good and bad things happen in life. That’s just the way it is so learn to live with it. You will have good and bad times. We lived through the dust bowl, WWII, and the Great Depression all at once. The woosies among us left for California. I could write a book on that.
6. The government can roll it up into a nice tight ball and put it where the sun never shines! Oklahomans don’t want a nanny state government. We will take care of our own and ourselves. Whiz on the government. We are a free people who will live free or die. Don’t bring your big government mentality into our state. You will find that Democrats and Republicans in our state consider themselves as Oklahomans and brothers first. We Oklahomans stand together, and we will determine how we live and not some all powerful dictator from Washington.
The list of Oklahoma values is much longer than the six listed above, and any native Oklahoman will be happy to expound on the full list if asked. Oh…one more Oklahoma value. We like burgers, hot dogs, BBQ, fried chicken, and 32oz soft drinks. Got that New York? — By Larry Oscar
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.
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
Refrigerated equipment is in tight supply in a number of areas around the 
country, but it could be much worse. Less than bumper sized crops in several areas is easing some of the pressure for trucks. California’s San Joaquin Valley stone fruit crop is down from a year ago. Central and southern Georgia fruits and vegetables were hit hard by inclement weather during the spring. Watermelons in Texas and some parts of the east coast were also victims of bad weather.
The new apple season will be launched in only a few weeks and crops were decimated in Michigan, Ontario and parts of New York state.
Thus, when folks complain about California rates hitting $6,000 to the Mid-west and $9,000 to the East Coast, with a little more favorable weather conditions in various parts of the USA and Canada, demand for refrigerated equipment could have been worse – resulting in even higher rates on produce hauls. Still, there comes a point when rates reach a certain point, that retail prices for fruits and vegetables rise, and at a certain there is consumer resistance to high the costs.
Whether talking availablity of equipment, volume of fruits and vegetables, as well as the quality of the product — and let’s not forget the availability of professional drivers – many factors can result in the final equasion for supply and demand….If and when this economy ever turns around, produce shipments will be receiving a lot more competition as many drivers will choose to haul other things, which is not as demanding and risky as loads of fresh produce.
Southern Californa citrus and fruit – grossing about $9000 to Boston, sometimes more.
Salinas Valley vegetables and berries – about $6200 to Chicago.
As more information becomes available on the prospects for the nation’s apple shipments, which 
get underway in August for the 2012-13 shipping season, it’s becoming apparent there should be record setting loading opportunities for apple haulers out of Washington state.
The reasons are two-fold. First, Washington is on course to pick, pack and ship 120 million boxes of apples in the upcoming season, which would be nearly 7 million more boxes than the season which will close in the coming weeks. Secondly, an April freeze clobbered upcoming crops in Michigan, parts of New York state and in Ontario. This means apple buyers who normally source the fruit from these areas will be relying on Washington state more than ever. In a normal year, Washington state accounts for about 60 percent of the USA’s apple shipments.
Apple volume is expected to remain more normal for the upcoming season from the Mid Atlantic states, including Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and West Virgina, as well as from the New England states. This holds true as well for New York’s Hudson and Champlian valleys. However, central and western New York apple shippers were not near as lucky during the April freeze.
Washington state apples – grossing about $6200 to Orlando.
Vince King has been trucking since 1978 hauling dairy products, frozen 
chickens and fresh produce. He loves hauling refrigerated freight, but dislikes trucking in California and the attitudes of many drivers.
A resident of Cuba, NY, located near Buffalo, HaulProduce caught up recently with Vince at the Pilot Truck Stop at Warner Robins, GA. “I haul dairy, chickens and produce — it really doesn’t matter to me which one. The only difference is setting the temperature (on the reefer unit) right for the different loads. I’ve grown to love that reefer unit over the years that’s behind my truck,” he relates.
Vince drives a 2009 blue Freightliner housing a 470 h.p. Detroit, equipped with a 13-speed transmission. He pulls a 53-foot Utililty trailer with a Thermo King unit.
“I love this truck. My boss asked me what I wanted and what color. My previous truck was a 2004 black Freight, says, Vince, who drives for Sargent Transportation Lines Inc. of Cuba, a small fleet with 20 over-the-road trucks. “The money is good and they keep me hopping or I wouldn’t still be here.”
Vince, who has been with Sargent 16 years, had just delivered dairy product in Florida the previous day, which had three drops. He was on his way to pick up frozen chicken in Doraville, GA for delivery to U.S. Foodservice near Albany, NY. He also hauls potatoes and onions off of the West Coast.
“I don’t like California. I used to run it every week, but now there is just too 
much ‘crap’ out there.” Vince cites all of the excessive regulations on truckers in California, adding, “You can’t sneeze there without getting a ticket. I just took my son out there on a trip. I’ve decided I just don’t need the hassles.”
Since becoming a trucker 34 years ago, Vince has considered buying a truck, but has always decided to remain a company driver. “I thought about becoming an owner operator years ago, but right now I wouldn’t even consider it because of the economy. It’s really hard to find a good company where you can make it with a lease. Over the years I’ve seen what these companies can do, especially with these lease-purchase plans.”
One of the best aspects of trucking is simply being out on the road, Vince says. He typically leaves the house on a Saturday evening or Sunday morning to pick up a load. He is usually home by Friday at the latest. If he’s doing an East Coast run, he’s usually gone only a couple of nights.
His least favorite part of trucking, which he dislikes even more than the excessive regulations, are the attitudes of a lot of drivers.
“I don’t even mean just the new breed, but some of the older drivers as well. Sometimes it is just sickening,” he states.
What is his biggest challenge in trucking? “Trying to figure out what the other drivers are going to do before they do it. A majority of this is with the older drivers, the four wheelers and the campers,” he says. “To a certain extent there is a lack of professionalism in trucking. I”m not just talking about the baby boomers, because you have the ‘me’ generation. It’s me, me, me. That is not the way things should be done.”
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.