Posts Tagged “produce truckers”
The New York state apple harvest is in full swing and New York apple shipments should pick up once the harvest is completed in a few weeks.
The Empire state is expecting normal apple shipments and volume this season from the state’s 700 growers.
The Hudson Valley is the largest volume provider in the state. However there also are shipments originating near the western shores of Lake Champlain in the Champlain Valley. Further west in New York, the primary shipping areas for apples are Utica, Ithica, Syracuse and Rochester.
New York is the nation’s second largest apple shipper and is forecast to have 26.2 million cartons this year, or about 13 apples for each of the state’s 19.75 million residents, if those apples stayed in state. However, the state’s apples are shipped from New England to Florida.
The 2015 crop is expected to be slightly smaller than the state’s average over the past five years of 30 million cartons, but produce truckers won’t notice the difference. New York has new apple plantings resulting in new apple varieties such as Honeycrisp – alongside their old New York state standards such as McIntosh and Empire. The new varieties like RubyFrost® and SnapDragon® can only be grown by select New York state growers.
Hudson Valley apples – grossing about $2600 to Atlanta.
Owner operators working with Cool Runnings Ltd. seem to be doing a little better financially this year, but company president Fred Plotsky would still like to see a more robust economy.
Based in Kenosha, WI and observing its 29th anniversary this month, Cooling Runnings has the majority of its business hauling produce out and California and the Northwest.
Plotsky cites lower diesel fuel prices as a primary factor in produce truckers doing better this year. Despite less money going for fuel, the owner operators his truck brokerage works with are saying they still need $2 per mile as freight rates continue to struggle keeping up with the increasing cost of operation.
“Business is better than last year,” Plotsky observes, “but it still could be better. There is an up tick in the economy, although I still see it as pretty flat to maybe slightly better at best.”
Cool Runnings has a history of working on a regular basis with the same produce truckers. The company provides advances to drivers, but Plotsky says one sign they are doing better, is fewer advances in pay are requested. “This leads me to believe the drivers have more money in their pockets,” he says.
Still, Plotsky knows that excessive rules and regulations on the trucking industry are taking its toll. For example, he points to the electronic logs being pushed this year by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).
“A lot of the older guys are not going to plug it (electronic logs) into the engine. They are saying, ‘you know what, I’m not going to do this, and they are hanging it up,” Plotsky says. While implementing electronic logs is not that complicated, he says it is matter of excessive FMCSA government oversight.
His truckers generally feel they are doing a good job of providing service and doing it safely. They are not hurting anyone, and trucking legally for the most part.
At the same time, Plotsky notes in produce trucking it is a challenge when there are so many multi pick ups. Delays at loading docks make it more difficult to operate legally. Yet, drivers are going to have to find a way to do this when the electronic logbooks become mandatory.
“With the multiple pick ups and delays in loading, it makes it a challenge to make on time deliveries. If you don’t get out of California on Monday night or early Tuesday morning, you can’t make it to Chicago on Friday. You can drive it, but not legally,” Plotsky concludes.
Clamshells, that clear plastic packaging you find in your local supermarket’s produce department has become a mainstay after being introduced a couple of decades ago.
Now, manufacturers of clamshells for strawberries and other fresh produce commodities have been tweaking the dimensions to satisfy both consumer desires and industry concerns.
The one-pounder is the clamshell is most popular, but other sizes, including the two-pounder and four-pounder, are gaining favor. Produce truckers may even notice some new packaging configurations. For example, F-D-S Manufacturing Co. in Pomona, CA, has introduced a two-pound clamshell with three different sizes, each of which allows for an eight-down pallet stacking configuration.
The three sizes of the clamshell and the ability to be packed in a tray that goes eight down on a pallet are equally important. While the outer dimensions of the clamshell remain the same, the inside needs to change a bit to fit different sizes of strawberries. As the season progresses, the average size of a berry changes and the inside dimensions of the clamshell must change to hit the weight advertised. Larger berries tend to be less dense so the clamshell has to be bigger to still get to the two-pound weight. Smaller fruit utilizes the inside space better and less mass is needed to reach two pounds of fruit. The same principle holds true when dealing with one or four-pound clamshells.
The eight down trays allow for better utilization of the cube of a refrigerated big rig trailer. In fact, with an eight down pallet, 30-35 percent more trays can be put in a truck. That is a huge freight advantage. The same freight advantage applies when shipping the empty clamshells to the grower. While this provide a freight advantage for the shipper, is the added weight enough to significantly cut into the what is being paid to the truck?
The four-pound clamshells also fit well in an eight down pallet configuration. Creating a one-pounder that offers that same freight advantage has been difficult.
The clamshell manufacturing industry has evolved over the years, and now virtually all the pellets being used to start the produce industry clamshells process come from recycled soda bottles. Depending upon the quality of the shipment, a small percentage of virgin material may have to be added to reach the quality level needed in the resulting clamshell. But overall, well over 90 percent of the material ultimately used comes from recycled product. And the clamshells themselves are recyclable.
Clamshells took over from plastic baskets in the strawberry industry more than two decades ago and now they account for at least 90 percent of strawberry containers.
Salinas Valley Vegetable Shipments
Supply gaps on leaf lettuce, cauliflower and other items in the Salinas Valley have cut shipments and made it more difficult for produce truckers to figure out when loads will be available. However, as we enter May loadings should improve and be more predictable.
Caution should also be used loading Salinas vegetables due to adverse effects from weather, which has experienced periods of very warm and cold temperatures. There also has been reports of wind burn and tip burn, that hurt quality, as well as yields. Just make sure your receiver is aware of any quality problems. Some product is being shipped three to four weeks earlier than normal due to above average temperatures.
Loadings of green and red leaf are particularly light due to the weather issues. The wild swings in volume have made it difficult for truckers and shippers a like.
California Strawberry Shipments
Watsonville strawberries shipments also have come on earlier this season. Strawberries, which started in February, have posted phenomenal early-season volume shipments in Salinas and Watsonville. Through April 11, the district shipped 4.1 million fresh trays, up from 1 million last year and 890,424 in 2013. Statewide in California the totals were 43.4 million, up about 4 million over 2014.
All spring holidays — Cinco de Mayo (May 5th), Mother’s Day (May 10th), Memorial Day (May 25th) — should have plenty of strawberry shipments leading up these events. Other berry shipments will experience great volume in May ranging from California raspberries, to blackberries and blueberries.
Salinas Valley vegetables and strawberries – grossing about $5000 to Chicago, $7100 to New York City.
While the Nogales port of entry has under gone major upgrades during the past couple of years, there’s concerns that although trucks from Mexico are crossing the border more efficiently, once they get into Arizona, there’s gridlock getting out of town to deliver loads of fresh produce to points across North America.
Last January, for example, two 18-wheelers collided on Grand Avenue in route to Nogales and nearby Rio Rico warehouses. Traffic was brought to a screeching halt. The upgrades to the border crossing allows for more inspections to be made faster, but the growing gridlock getting to distribution warehouses, not to mention leaving town, causes plenty of headaches for produce handlers and produce truckers alike.
As a result Nogales produce shippers as well as the locally based Fresh Produce Association of the Americas are pushing state and federal government officials for major upgrades that would allow big rigs to get from the border to Interstate 19 without running into any traffic lights or making the steep climb onto the highway from Mariposa Road.
The state of Arizona has budgeted $6 million for a feasibility study. Some estimates for the total project have ranged from $60 million to $150 million.
Supporters are calling for construction of a “fly over” bypass allowing trucks to get from the border to Interstate 19. In addition to the flyover, the project would include improvements to Exits 12 and 17 in Rio Rico, the exits for many of the Nogales area’s distributors.
The Nogales port of entry now has a capacity for 4,000 vehicles a day, but even during peak times of the year, only about 1,800 vehicles are crossing daily.
Produce truckers should find good seasons ahead for two of Georgia most popular agricultural commodities – Vidalia sweet onions and peaches.
The largest amount of Vidalia onion shipments is expected since 2011. The industry may ship at least 5 million 40-pound equivalents this year, which would be close to its 10-year average. In other words, an average size crop is seen. The past three years have been rough on Vidalia onion shipments because of downy mildew, seed stems and freezing temperatures hitting shortly before harvest in 2012, 2013 and 2014. The reported total volumes shipped in the past three seasons were:
- 2012 — 4.4 million 40-pound equivalents;
- 2013 — 5.6 million 40-pound equivalents;
- 2014 — 4.7 million 40-pound equivalents.
Georgia Peach Shipments
Growers anticipate seeing the first shipments of fruit the week of May 18th. Varieties include the Flavorich, which will start around Memorial Day, all the way to the August Prince in late August. Weather has been on the side of Georgia peach growers so far this year. Each year, Georgia produces more than 80 million pounds of the fruit from mid-May to mid-August, and the vast majority of fruit is picked, packed and shipped the same day.
90 percent of Georgia Peaches are grown in a 10,000-acre area known as the Fort Valley Plateau.
There is angst among some in the Canadian produce industry because the rules set up by an entity of America’s U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has changed some rules regarding protection they receive when there is a dispute involving a produce transaction. However, it could be worse. What if the Canadians had absolutely no protection against unfair practices, something U.S. produce truckers have never had.
The U.S. government recently took away a trading privilege from Canadian produce companies that has been available for more than 75 years. The result is fruit and vegetable producers risk losing thousands of dollars, closing their businesses, or moving across the border into the U.S.
Canadian produce companies that were owed money from U.S. companies could pay $100 to start a legal process, under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA). This would happen when U.S. companies didn’t pay their bills on time, at all, or when the company declared bankruptcy.
However, in October 2014, the United States withdrew Canada’s privileged access to PACA after the Canadian government neglected to implement the same privileges this side of the border. Now Canadian fruit and vegetable producers have to pay double the amount of money they’re owed to get access to the unpaid funds. If they’re owed $100,000 for cucumbers for example, they have to pay $200,000 as a bond to get the process started.
For decades, this writer has advocated owner operators, small fleets and large fleets hauling fresh fruits and vegetables be afforded similar protections the USDA’s PACA provides for the produce industry. This would be invaluable for produce truckers facing unfair claims or deductions or rejected loads. However, the produce industry has always fought against such measures and the PACA has certainly shown no interest.
About the only recourse for produce haulers is going through the court system, which can be costly, time consuming and particularly difficult considering the fact the problem may have taken place thousands miles from the trucker’s home base. Otherwise, hope and pray you have a good truck broker or shipper backing you when such issues arise. — Bill Martin
There have been a lot of opinions expressed about the “Left Coast” and its rules, regulations and politics and what effect it may have on everything from produce truckers willing to do business in California, to produce growers shifting more of their operations to Mexico and other states.
Based on a new report from the U.S Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, as looney as our friends on the West Coast may sometimes seem, last year California still accounted for 47 percent of harvested acreage, 52 percent of production and 60 percent of value in 2014. If that’s the case, then there must have been trucks for the most part delivering those agricultural products to markets across North America.
Production of U.S. melons and 24 top vegetables was down one percent in 2014. The overall value of those crops also fell last year.
About 413 million cwt. of leading vegetables and melons were harvested in 2014. Harvested acreage, at 1.58 million acres, also was down, by three percent.
The value of the 2014 crops, at $10.9 billion, was down 5 percent from a year ago.
In terms of production, onions, head lettuce and watermelon were the top three crops, accounting for 36 percent of total production.
Tomatoes, head lettuce and onions were the most valuable, making up 29 percent of total value.
While the vast majority of produce shipments occur by truck, California produce shipments also easily lead the pack in terms of volume over other states.
At the Hunts Point Terminal Produce Market there are four long rows. On the ground floor are the sales offices and docks. Upstairs one can stand at one end of a hallway one-third of a mile long and the other end is so far away the walls, floor and ceiling appear to come together. On each side of the massive hallway are the offices of the wholesalers.
In 1967, the new Hunts Point produce market had 125 wholesalers receiving fruits and vegetables. Today, due to mergers, consolidations and companies falling by the wayside, there are only 40 wholesalers, although their operations tend to be much larger than in the early days.
The largest company on the market is D’Arrigo Bros. Co. of New York Inc., which has 30 units. However, it is even larger when considering the family owned operation also has 30,000 acres of farming in California and Arizona. At the same time D’Arrigo and other wholesalers service thousands of produce buyers from all walks of life on a daily basis.
In some form or another, they all are dependent on the reliable service of the trucking industry to be successful in their own businesses.
I’ve known Matthew D’Arrigo, vice president of D’Arrigo Bros. for nearly 30 years. The company has a great reputation not only in the produce industry, but with produce truckers who have delivered product to the operation. D’Arrigo knows the livelihood of the company depends in part on good, reliable service from produce haulers. His company treats truckers accordingly.
He speaks of the continuing rise in costs of transportation and recalls late June 2014 when some produce rates from California to New York City hit $10,000. Many produce folks who pay the freight rates don’t necessarily like the higher costs, but rationalize their thinking knowing their competitors are pretty much paying the same rate for a truck.
Wholesalers at Hunts Point tend to depend upon truck brokers and logistics companies to handle their transportation needs. Most wholesalers simply don’t have the time, expertise or inclination to arrange the trucks themselves. — Bill Martin
(This is the third of a four-part series based upon my visit to Hunt Point on Dec. 4, 2014)
Mid December rains on the West Coast will benefit produce truckers hauling California citrus next year, plus will be helpful long term with produce shipments throughout much of the state.
The rain storm hit the main citrus shipping regions, but more importantly provided more water for storage, as an initial start to climbing out of a three-year-long drought. The rains are helping to reinvigorate citrus trees, which helps with fruit sizing.
California citrus is about seven weeks into the season with another 25 weeks of shipping ahead.
California Navel loadings began in mid-October, but a lack of rainfall over the summer had led to a smaller-than-usual fruit sizing.
The California Department of Water Resources says the state needs about five or six of these storms this winter and spring to have an above-average water year and to begin to make up the deficits racked up over the past three years. Because of the mid December storms, three of California’s largest reservoirs – Oroville, Shasta and Folsom – rose for the first time since last spring. But each of those reservoirs, which provide much of agriculture with the summer irrigation water it needs, still stand at only about one-third of capacity.
For the drought to be declared over, several cold weather storms that drop snow in the higher elevations are needed. Currently, the snow pack remains below normal. Each year’s snowpack and spring runoff provides California with the vast majority of its reservoir water.
But there is no doubt that the rains have helped.
Southern California citrus – grossing about $4200 to Chicago.