It now costs 70% more to haul produce to its final destination than it did at this time in 2020, a statistic that would surprise most consumers given the shortages and cost increases during the early months of the pandemic last year.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s most recent Fruit and Vegetable Truck Rate Report painted a harrowing picture of the rising cost of goods which will only be exacerbated in the next report following the hack-induced shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline.
The spike in transportation costs was evident in every district across the country in the last period analyzed, with a number of districts reporting a shortage of truckers, too. Georgia, Oregon, Idaho, and South Texas all reported a slight shortage in available drivers in the May 4 report and the Mother’s Day holiday elevated the demand for delivery the most in the southeastern region of the country.
Contributing to the shortage of available drivers, industry experts cite unemployment benefits and government stimulus money as one of the main factors, in addition to driver fears of COVID-19, competing jobs closer to home, job opportunities in construction, and failed drug tests by drivers and operators.
John Pandol, director of special projects for Delano, Calif.-based Pandol Bros., said in a recent interview with AgWeb that truck rates are usually cyclical, with each year bringing stories of “truck shortages.”
“In the food waste discussion, I’ve never heard about lack of transport being an issue,” he said. “I’ve seen fields abandoned for overproduction, lack of market, low grade, no workers to harvest, and maybe this year lack of packaging, but not because of lack of trucks or ocean containers.”
The USDA reported the following spike in rates over this period in 2020:
- Nogales, Ariz., to Boston: $9,200 to $10,600, compared with $5,300 to $6,700 a year ago;
- Salinas-Watsonville, Calif., to New York: $10,000 to $10,800, compared with $5,800 to $6,200 a year ago;
- Southern California to Chicago: $7,500 to $8,600, compared with $3,800 to $4,700 a year ago;
- Yakima Valley and Wenatchee District, Wash., to Philadelphia: $8,600 to $10,000, compared with $5,600 to $6,500 a year ago; and
- Vidalia, Ga., to New York: $4,300 to $5,200, compared with $2,600 to $3,200 a year ago.
The industry is anticipating an increase in demand for refrigerated trucking in the summer months to account for the rising temperatures and the natural swing in demand of different products prompted by summer break for school children.
