Posts Tagged “North Carolina”
While I’ve written some reports suggesting caution when loading Washington state apples from the Wenachee Valley due to 
damage from a July 20 hail storm, information is now starting to come out relating to the pears from the same area. Expect pear shippers to be loading some “hail grade” pears. Appearance is affected, but eating quality should be fine. Just make sure the parties with whom you are working to deliver the load are aware of this condition to the fruit and it is noted on the bill of lading. Washington state pear shipments are expected to set a record this season volume wise.
In Michigan, produce shipments have been running early this season, not only for vegetables, but blueberries. Expect both to complete shipping a week or two ahead of schedule this summer. Michigan blueberry volume will drop significantly beginning the week of August 27th…..Expect a similar situation with “blues” coming out of Oregon and British Columbia.
In the San Luis Valley of Colorado, potato hauls should be ramping up by the end of August…Virtually all USA potato shipping areas are expecting to load more spuds during the 2012-13 shipping season.
On the East Coast, watermelon shipments have increased significantly over the past three years from Maryland and Delaware. Virginia also is shipping melons…..Expect increased loading opportunities on watermelons for the upcoming Labor Day weekend from areas ranging from West Texas to Indiana and North Carolina.
Delaware watermelons – grossing about $1100 to New York City.
Produce loadings have seasonally moved northward, some by as much as 
three weeks earlier than normal.
A case in point is New Jersey where southern area vegetables have been ahead of schedule for weeks. Now it is peach loadings taking center stage. Jersey peaches started the third week of June, but do not normally get underway until around July 10th. The Garden State ranks fourth nationally in peach volume behind California, South Carolina and Georgia….New Jersey also is a leading shipper of blueberries, which are now moving in volume.
Watermelon loadings are available from the Charleston-Beaufort area of South Carolina…..North Carolina continues to ship sweet potatoes.
Florida has entered its deadest part of the year as far as produce is concerned, while the state of Georgia isn’t a whole lot better. Weather problems really hurt Georgia vegetable, blueberry and watermelon shipments this year. Vidalia onion volume has dwindled and the latter end of the Georgia peach shipping season is lighter than normal.
New Jersey blueberries – grossing about $2600 to Orlando.
North Carolina sweet potatoes – about $1750 to Philadelphia.
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.
A mild winter, great spring and increasing produce volume is gradually 
increasing demand for refrigerated equipment in several areas of the country. This is resulting in rising freight rates, although higher diesel fuel prices is certainly putting a damper on many truckers getting too excited about these changes.
In Florida, we’ve seen rate increases of 10 to 15 percent in the past week as volume continues to build for spring vegetables, and red potatoes. Watermelon shipments are underway, but we’re another week or so away from good volume.
In southeast Georgia, light shipments of Vidalia onions are occurring, but decent volume won’t hit until around April 15th.
On the West coast, we’re seeing a few more $7000 freight rates to New York City and Boston, but the majority of rates remain a few hundred dollars less. But this is an indicator of what’s coming as volume continues to build from Southern California, the San Joaquin Valley as well as the Salinas area.
Mexican vegetables, melons and mangos crossing the border at Nogales, AZ are showing small rate increases as this area enters it’s final peak volume month for shipments.
I keep hearing about shortages of equipment for hauling sweet potatoes out of eastern areas of North Carolina, but there seems to be no increases in the freight rates. Could there be a correlation? Duh!
North Carolina sweet potatoes – grossing about $2250 to Chicago.
Southern California, avocados, berries, etc – about $6800 to New York City.
Nogales vegetables – about $5800 to Philadelphia.
South Florida veggies – about $3600 to Boston
Produce shipments from the eastern portions of the United States continue to 
be seasonally light. Florida is still one of the better places for loading produce right now, although it’s biggest volume in spring shipments are still ahead of us. South Florida potato shipments continue to increase, but still are light. Tomatoes are among the volume leaders with about 750 truckloads a week. Plant City strawberry volume is in a seasonal decline. There’s also varying amounts of citrus and vegetables. Blueberries have started in light in volume, but increasing from Central and Northern Florida.
Central and Southern Georgia has light volume with mixed greens…North Carolina sweet potatoes continue steady shipments. The state has 65,000 acres of sweet potatoes and ships about 50 percent the volume in the United States.
Truck availability has been tightening some in North Carolina and Florida, with rates from Florida showing a little strength.
New York state has light to moderate shipments of apples and cabbage from Western and Central areas. Apples addionally are being shipped from the Hudson Valley. The Empire State also is loading about 150 truckloads of storage onions per week, primarily from Orange County. Of course, apples, cabbage and onions are not compatible on the same load and can result in quality issues due to oder absorption, etc., especially on longer hauls.
New York cabbage is grossing – about $200o to Boston.
North Carolina sweet potatoes – about $2750 to Boston.
Florida vegetables – about$3000 to New York City.
February may be the slowest month of the year for produce shipments, and 
for the most part there’s plenty of trucks for hauling product from most shipping points nationwide. There are a few exceptions. Equipment appears to the tighest in Florida for hauling mixed veggies, tomatoes and strawberries; sweet potatoes out of Eastern portions of North Carolina and with potatoes out of Northwest Washington.
Nationally, it is reported there are four percent more apples remaining in storages compared to a year ago. Best apple loading opportunities are occuring from Yakima, WA and points in western and central Michigan….Mexican melons and mixed vegetables are crossing the border at Nogales, AZ in good volume…In California, December freezes have apparently reduced citrus shipments for the season from around 93 million cartons to about 74 million cartons. Mandarins were hit pretty hard, especially in the northern San Joaquin Valley. Although packinghouses sort out damaged product, it is a good idea to (as always) to watch what is being loaded.
Washington apples – grossing about $6000 to New York City.
North Carolina sweet potatoes – $2250 to Chicago.
Michigan apples – $2400 to Atlanta.
Oranges, potatoes and sweet potatoes are among the larger volume produce items shipped during the bleak, cold winter months. In a 
recession (or is it a depression?) that has been going on for at least three years, big crops of potatoes mean good movement (loading opportunities) as cash strapped consumers look for something less expensive to eat.
Idaho easily leads the nation in potato shipments. Rails haul a lot of them, but there are only so many rail cars and tracks, so big rigs are still hauling the marjority of the product. Idaho potato shipments are expected to be up 6%, while the nation as a whole is up 7%…..As for sweet potatoes, eastern North Carolina has the most shipments, with loadings also available from California, Louisiana and Mississippi. Total loads are forecast to be up 13% over a year ago.
As for oranges, Florida expects to ship 147 million boxes compared to 58 million boxes for California. Florida is up some from the previous season, while California is down slightly. Florida’s forecast could eventually be reduced some if a recent freeze damages some of the citrus.
California sweet potatoes – grossing about $4800 to Atlanta.
North Carolina sweet potatoes – $2200 to Detroit.
Florida citrus – $2000 to Baltimore.
Idaho potatoes – $3400 to Dallas.