As produce season ramps up, the market anticipates an impact on not only on reefer volume, but also on truckload capacity and pricing.
With May as the peak month for imports from Mexico and in particular, Florida, Dean Croke, principal analyst at DAT Freight & Analytics, noted, “It looks we’ve already passed the peak, or getting close to it a little bit earlier this year.”
“Volumes are about 6% lower year-over-year in the end of April and start of May,” Croke noted. Typically, this time of the year, Florida would produce a lot of winter vegetables, though it is lower this year. An example of this, are tomatoes, which would be one of the bigger crops this time of the year, but volumes have decreased. With volumes down, although the season isn’t definitively done, it’s not looking promising.
Produce from Mexico is another factor worth watching.
[Related: Cross-border freight on the rise at both borders]
“We get about 40% of our truckloads each week from across the Southern border,” said Croke. In April, Mexico import volumes were down about 21% year-over-year.
